


Bane and Bones

by jordahparrish



Category: Bones (TV), Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Based on Bones, F/F, F/M, M/M, The original intention was to have them all based on the Bones characters, but I got too excited and began adding the Bones characters too so...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-09-25 10:26:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 62,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9815687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jordahparrish/pseuds/jordahparrish
Summary: Dr. Alec Lightwood, a Forensic Anthropologist in Brooklyn, ends up working alongside FBI agent Magnus Bane to figure out multiple murder cases. The team are thrown into a new case when a body shows up near Magnus's apartment, but they're shocked to find out that a member of their team has a connection with the corpse that could make her a suspect.





	1. The Boy In The Bed

Whenever he set his eyes on Alec, Magnus retold the story of how the pair came together in the first place in his mind. They had worked together in the past, one various cases which Magnus had previously said he’d rather forget. The first time they had a run in was when the skeletal remains of what was assumed to be a child were found, there was a call out for anyone who had a missing child but nobody had responded. Of course it didn’t take Alec long to inform the FBI that the victim had in fact suffered Achondroplasia, which he explained to Magnus as ‘a cause of dwarfism’. That new finding had of course cut off the call for a missing child and instead moved it to simply being a missing person. Another case had involved a teenage girl, who Alec had identified as a ballet dancer and Magnus had once again been amazed by the man’s mind - of course Alec claimed it was simple knowledge when he looked at the skeleton. Then they had come together for good when skeletal remains had been found at the bottom of a lake, and Magnus had asked if they could get Alec to work for the FBI, which Alec himself was less than willing to do. 

And now they were here, working side by side as partners, known as ‘Bane and Bones’ the nickname which Magnus had given Alec during the first case they both worked on - to begin with Alec had never been fond of the nickname but eventually it had stuck. They weren’t alone, they always worked with Alec’s co-workers. Clary Fray, the forensic artist at the Institute, it was clear that she was a big help to the investigation especially when she was skilled in facial reconstruction and she was also able to recreate various scenarios of the crimes that had been committed. Alec also worked alongside his sister, Izzy. Izzy was the Entomologist, Mineralogist and Botanist, Alec didn’t admit it often but he knew his sister was a genius and he was proud of her. Jace Wayland had taken over as the head of the Forensic Division at the Institute, replacing Dr. Branwell. Then of course, they had been joined by Luke Garroway, an FBI Psychologist who had been sent to work with both Magnus and Alec. It wasn’t simply work to them, they had formed friendships and relationships during their time together - and even Alec had noticed how Clary and Izzy had seemed to be getting on well together. 

They were currently without a case, and Magnus had decided to spend his day at the Institute hoping to assist the team in anything, of course they hadn’t exactly taken kindly to his presence. The FBI and the ‘Squints’ as Magnus had called them were two entirely different groups. He watched as Alec helped his sister clearing up a table in the labs, it was one of the few times he had seen a smile across Alec’s face, and it was - in fact - a beautiful smile. He eventually talked himself around to knocking on the door, it was already open so he stood by it waiting for a response.

“Bane,” Alec had looked up to Magnus, “what are you doing here? Has a body been found?”

”I thought it could cure my boredom,” Magnus walked into the room giving a smile, “being here is… Always exciting.”

“Oh and today, when we’re cleaning the labs, that’s exciting,” Izzy rolled her eyes, “I’ll leave you two alone, I’ve got to go see a Forensic Artist about a coffee date,” Magnus watched as Izzy walked past him, he turned to Alec and let out a chuckle.

“So they really are going to happen?”

”All the signs are there,” Alec nodded eventually, “nervous stutters, laughing at jokes that aren’t funny-”

”Do you think maybe they’re just jokes you don’t understand?” Magnus hummed playfully. 

Alec pulled a face at Magnus and then headed towards the door, Magnus, of course, followed him.

“You know,” Magnus began again, “I think it’s charming, how you’re confused by the living but enthralled by the dead. It’s oddly sweet.”

”That’s not exactly complimentary,” Alec responded.

“I thought you’d appreciate it.”

”Appreciate your comment on my lack of social skills?” Alec cocked his head, “or the part where you make me sound like a necrophilliac?”

“Yeah, okay, I can see how that could have been insulting.”

“Congratulations,” Alec mumbled as he took a seat in what was deemed as their ‘break area’, Magnus sat beside him.

”There’s got to be something interesting waiting to happen around the corner,” Magnus eventually added, “sitting and waiting for a case is just-”

”You didn’t have to come here, you could be at home watching some television show that incorrectly broadcasts the way your line of work is,” there was a hint of a smile from Alec, “but you’re here.”

”Honestly, I have no friends other than you guys-”

”I don’t think my team would necessarily refer to you as a friend.”

”Ouch.”

”You’re an accquaintance at most,” Alec ran his hands over his thighs, “you know why? Because… Because we all see things differently, we take the approach of the brain, you take the approach of the heart. Considering we’ve had various undesirable run-ins with the FBI before, it’s doubtful that my team will never see eye to eye with you.”

”Well, well, well,” both Magnus and Alec looked up when a voice caught them off guard, “sounds like you two could do with another session.”

”Luke,” Magnus shook his head, “it’s not needed.”

”Except it is. Come on, to my office,” Luke began to walk away, as though sensing that Alec and Magnus hadn’t moved Luke raised his hand, “now!”

* * * * * 

Magnus juggled the stress ball between his hands annd raised his eyebrows at Luke, “you know,” he said as he finally stopped juggling the ball and leaned forward, “this,” he gestured between them, “isn’t going to make things spectacularly better.”

”I think what Dr. Garroway is aiming to do is get us to realise-”

”I know what he’s trying to do,” Magnus turned to Alec and crossed his arms, “I’m just saying it’s not going to work, sitting in silence is doing nothing for me, nor for you.”

“I beg to differ,” Luke smiled as he leaned back in his seat, “I think it’s working wonders.”

Magnus went to speak, he stopped when his phone vibrated in his pocket, he pulled out his phone and looked at the screen, “oh would you look at that, a dead body, we have to go.”

”You know, when I say no phones - I don’t mean put them on vibrate,” Luke groaned as Magnus and Alec quickly left the office, “nobody ever wants to listen to the Shrink.”

Alec looked over Magnus’s shoulder to his phone as they left the office, “where is it?”

Magnus hesitated, “it’s… Nightingale Towers.”

”You sound…”

”I live in Nightingale Towers,” Magnus sighed, “I left there an hour ago, not knowing that… That there was a dead body around.”

”That doesn’t mean you’re at fault at all, let’s go and I’ll prove to you that you have no need to feel put down by the body being there.”

“You realise there’s a high possibility that I might know the dead person, right?”

”I’ve been there, before we were working together, there was a body found at a beach. We identified the remains as Hodge Starkweather, he used to look after me, Izzy and our brother Max. Sometimes, you don’t want to face the realisation that death can happen to anyone - even people you know…”

“Let’s just go get this body.”

* * * * *

Magnus and Alec were welcomed at the doors, residents of the building were mostly gathered in the reception area, all asking questions about the goings on and why the FBI were investigating the building. Magnus smiled to the doorman briefly as he and Alec made their way through the crowd.

“It’s terrifying,” Magnus whispered, “I haven’t exactly had a case involving anyone I know. Thinking I could know this dead body…”

”If you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to, we’ll take the body to identify and I can send you the name as soon as we know.”

”I’ll be okay,” Magnus admitted. 

Magnus was relieved when they stopped on the second floor, it meant that he would have passed the floor with no cause to stop - so missing the signs was easy to do. Alec walked hesitantly ahead, glancing back over his shoulder to Magnus, “come on Bane.”

Magnus let out a quick laugh as he caught up with Alec. They were taken into one of the rooms, the scene was in no doubt a crime scene from the instant they were taken through the door. The body was lying on a bed, well the blackened remains of the body.

“How would the body have been in here long enough to turn into… That?” Magnus scoffed, “but not cause curiosity around here?”

Alec looked to Magnus and rolled his eyes, “because the body wasn’t in here,” Alec replied.

“How can you tell?”

”Where to begin,” Alec grumbled, “maybe with the fact that this body is burnt, there’s no fire damage in the room and people would have known if there was a fire in the building. The murder didn’t take place here.”

Magnus approached the body, “this corpse was moved here.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, there’s absolutely no question about it. The victim is male, approximately mid-twenties.”

“So somebody strolled in here with a corpse over their shoulder, and dropped it off. I’m pretty sure someone would ha-”

”Obviously noticed, I’m aware,” Alec rolled his eyes again, “but the body wasn’t carried over someone’s shoulder, he was brought in, hidden in something, a bag or…” Alec glanced around the room and cocked his head, “or an instrument case.”

Magnus followed Alec’s eyeline to an uncased cello that was set up in the corner of the room, “cello,” Magnus joked, playing on the word ‘hello’, the response from Alec was a glare that suggested the joke was in no way funny to him, “okay, okay, so you think that the body was brought in in a cello case and then set up on the bed like Sleeping Beauty? So we’re looking for a necrophillic Celloist.”

”Cellist,” Alec corrected, “they’re not necessarilly a Necrophile. We’ll get the body to the labs, have Clary run some Craniofacial Reconstruction to identify the victim, and I’ll get Izzy to see if she can get any idea of the place of death. You should look into getting CCTV footage of people entering and leaving this place, and the identity of whoever lives here.”


	2. The Sister In The Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the facial reconstruction of the unidentified victim, one member of the team is shocked to find out they're closer to the victim than they thought.

Alec and Jace were both stood watching as Clary was creating a reconstruction of the victim’s face, “so this guy was just found on a bed. Someone just brought a dead body home for a night of fun, huh?” Clary smirked, “it’s gross but some people are weirdly into it.”

“Well, you do need to be stiff to have sex,” Jace joked, he covered his mouth as Alec turned to him, “too soon?”

”I thought it was a good one,” Clary smiled over to Jace, she turned back to the tablet in her hand and continued the reconstruction.

“Except you’re forgetting that this body was set on fire,” Alec stepped closer to Clary, “come on Clary, we want to find the victim, find the killer, and arrest the killer.”

”Or find the victim, figure out the method, figure out the motive and then find and arrest the murderer,” Jace added, “I mean what’s a cellist got against some boy?”

”We don’t know that it’s the cellist,” Alec replied, “the cellist could have a roommate.”

“That’s possible but you know that the cellist is the main suspect.”

Alec nodded and looked up to the reconstruction that Clary was still working on. She was finally getting somewhere with the image of the face. When she looked up at her own creation she gasped and froze on the spot.

”Clary?” Alec turned to the girl.

“I… I need to go,” Clary placed the tablet onto a table and rushed out of the room.

Alec and Jace looked at each other and then at the reconstruction of the face, “what was that about?”

“I have no idea,” Jace mumbled the response, he placed a hand on Alec’s back and then walked in the opposite direction to Clary. Alec frowned to himself, deciding which way was best to go, eventually he followed Clary.

* * * * *

Alec caught up with Clary as she was making her way down a set of stairs, he managed to reach out and grab her shoulder, “Clary what’s going on? Why did you react like that?”

Clary pulled back and continued on her way down the stairs, “I don’t want to talk about it Alec, please leave me alone.”

”You know I’m not good with social interactions according to Bane, but right now I know that I should not do as you asked,” he chased after her and grabbed her hand, “Clary, look at me please.”

Clary did as Alec asked, she looked up to Alec nervously, and then looked away, “you’re analysing my emotions, trust me I know when you’re doing that.”

“What happened in there? You were fine and then you suddenly… You freaked out. Was it something we said? I mean I know you like classical music but… No a cellist being the main suspect isn’t enough to upset you like that…”

”My brother,” Clary eventually whispered, “the victim… He’s my brother.”

“Your brother, I never knew you had a brother,” Alec cocked his head, “look I know this will hurt but… we know who the victim is now.”

Clary nodded, “it was just the… The shock of it,” she admitted, “we weren’t close but the fact that I just… Facially reconstructed my brother. My dead, burnt, brother.”

“Come back to the lab,” Alec pleaded, “you’re strong enough to do this, you’ve reconstructed millions of people before-”

”Never my own brother.”

“Who you never said about in the first place.”

Clary pressed her lips together, she eventually gave a nod, “I’ll come back to the labs.”

“You’re strong,” Alec placed an arm around Clary’s shoulder, “and we all know how strong you are, if at any point you feel vulnerable, just leave the room. I’d suggest sitting in Garroway’s office, you’d be a great case for him.”

Clary let out a weak laugh, “Luke would love the emotional trauma, wouldn’t he?”

* * * * *

“The body was doused in gasoline and set on fire, I can’t imagine that’s the best way to go,” Izzy explained as she looked up at her brother.

“Say the killer did the classic, returned to the scene of the crime. They then noticed that the body was still there and then took him back to Nightingale Towers,” Jace crossed his arms.

”That’s a theory,” Alec frowned, “but why would someone return to a dead body?”

”It’s a psyche thing,” Luke Garroway walked into the room with Clary behind him, “just as burgulars may return to the scene of a crime, it’s subconscious, or sometimes they get a thrill out of seeing the aftermath.”

“Like, a sexual thrill?” Alec narrowed his eyes.

”No, an adrenaline rush.”

“Criminals return because of epinephrine kicking in?” Alec pulled a face in confusion, “that seems so… Fictional.”

”Well it doesn’t just happen in the movies,” Luke shrugged.

“Guess who’s got a list of residents!” Magnus announced loudly as he walked into the room, “so which of you squints looks into this?”

Jace sighed and turned to Magnus, “I’ll be looking into that,” he waved a hand and walked out of the lab with Magnus.

Alec moved to the body, and examined it cautiously. His attention was taken to the ribs where the flesh had burnt away to reveal the bone, he leaned closer to the body and then stood up, “Izzy there’s marks along the rib here,” he looked up to his sister, “most likely from a knife or another sharp object, which means he was most likely stabbed, there’s more than one mark so…”

”Multiple stab wounds,” Izzy nodded, “stabbed to death and then set on fire to be disposed of.”

“Then shoved in a cello case,” Alec cocked his head.

* * * * * 

“So, what’s the name of our suspect?”

“Maia Roberts,” Magnus placed a file down in front of Jace.

”Maia Roberts…”

”She is, in fact, a Cellist,” Magnus smiled, “she plays beautifully I’ve regularly heard her play when when I’m walking down past the second floor. She seemed like a very nice girl, but it’s always surprising what people are capable of.”

”So take the girl in, we’ll get some DNA and find out the truth,” Jace turned to Magnus.

”Working on it,” Magnus pointed to Jace, “I thought you guys would like to know the update though, and who’s DNA to look for on that body.”

Jace nodded and watched as Magnus left the room, he looked through the list of residents curiously, he looked up when there was a knock at the door, “yes?”

”Hi, uh, my name is Simon Lewis, I’m the… Uh…”

”The grad student,” Jace nodded.

“The grad student,” Simon repeated with a nervous laugh, “sounds like some badly named porn parody of The Graduate,” he began to laugh but then paused and widened his eyes, “sorry that was innapropriate, I should have stayed silent, I’m so sorry.”

Jace stood up and walked towards Simon, he held out his hand, “I’m Jace Wayland, head of the Forensic Division. My first suggestion, if you find yourself a nervous stuttering mess, stop talking.”

”Yes, sir,” Simon reached out to shake Jace’s hand.

”Don’t call me Sir.”

”Yes, sorry si- Mr. Wayland.”

”Try again.”

”Uh, Captain?”

”Jace, call me Jace,” he eventually corrected the boy and finally let go of Simon’s hand, “most of the team go by first name, it’s not to be seen as anything formal.”

“Okay, awesome,” Simon grinned.

“Oh, words of advice,” Jace hissed, he pointed to Simon as he spoke, “try to keep proper around Dr. Lightwood, any pop culture reference or slip of modern vocabulary will give him a brain aneurism,” he joked.

“I can’t wait to work with him,” Simon whispered.

“Well be careful because he can most likely wait to work with you,” Jace replied, “but I’ll try to make him be nice to you,” he placed a hand on Simon’s back and directed him out of the office, “you should know we’re currently examining a body that was-”

”Found in Nightingale Towers,” Simon continued, “yes, I am aware. News spreads quickly, like nutella on hot toast.”

”I’d describe it as more of a virus.”

Jace led Simon through to the lab where the group were still gathered around the table, “who’s this?” Alec asked as soon as he noticed the boy following Jace.

“This is your undergraduate, remember?”

Alec frowned, “oh, right, of course,” Alec turned back to the body and waved a hand, “just settle down in the corner or something.”

”He’s not a dog, Alec,” Jace defended Simon quickly.

”It’s alright,” Simon let out a laugh, “I’m just happy to be talking to him.”

”Don’t talk to me,” Alec replied as he continued to examine the body, “I’m busy.”

“I can see that,” Simon whispered, he tilted his head and looked at the top of the skull, “woah, that guy took a blow to the head.”

Alec stood up straight and looked over to Simon, “what are you on about?”

”The neurocranium, you haven’t seen it?”

Alec rushed around to the end of the table and crouched down, on the neurocranium there was an indentation which - as Simon had noted - would have been caused by something colliding with his head, hard. 

“So here’s my hunch,” Clary stepped forward, hesitating briefly, “Sebastian was attacked from behind, weakened and then stabbed multiple times…” 

“Sebastian?” Izzy raised an eyebrow, “are you naming the skeletons now?”

”His name is Sebastian Morgenstern, he’s my brother, I recognised him during the facial reconstruction.”

As Clary explained her discovery, Magnus approached the group and was surprised to hear the identification of the body, he stayed silent however to listen to the conversation.

”Okay wait,” Izzy placed her hands on her hips, “one, you have a brother? Two, you have different last names?”

”Fairchild is my mother’s name, but I prefer going by Fray,” Clary explained quickly, “it seperated me entirely from the Morgensterns, my mother and I didn’t like it to be known that we were related to them, my father and Sebastian were cruel people… I last spoke to Sebastian around a month ago,” she hesitated and looked up to Alec, “the last thing I said to him,” she turned to glance at Magnus, “was… ‘you’re a disgusting asshole and I wish you were dead’.”

Magnus’s facial expression changed suddenly, “Clary.”

”Woah, wait,” Izzy’s eyes were wide as she looked at Clary, “you know…”

”This makes me a suspect,” Clary nodded, “I can tell you I didn’t do it but I know I’m still a suspect.”

* * * * *

Luke watched through the glass as Magnus spoke with Maia Roberts, the girl was nervous as soon as she had been taken in. She fiddled with her sleeves and barely looked the men in the eye.

“You play cello, right?” Magnus asked the girl, obviously being polite.

“Yeah, yeah. Well, up until recently.”

”Why not recently?” Alec cocked his head to the side.

“I hurt my hand,” she held up her right hand which was placed in a cast.

“How?”

Nerves kicked in again as she tucked her hand back under the table, “I… Got into a fight.”

”A fight,” Alec repeated, “with?”

”My ex-boyfriend.”

”Was his name Sebastian?”

”No,” Maia pulled a face, “his name was Jordan Kyle.”

“You were abused,” Alec stood up slowly and moved around to the girl, he pulled back her hair and pointed to her neck, “these scars are as though someone…”

”Wrapped their hand around my throat and dug their nails in,” Maia pushed Alec’s hand away, “yeah.”

”So, say you had an abusive boyfriend,” Magnus leaned forward, “perhaps you want to… Go out, meet up with another guy.”

”What?” Maia scoffed, “no, you want to know what happened with my ex? I broke up with him, I fought him off and kicked him out, told him to find some other place to live.”

”He lived with you?” 

“Yeah.”

* * * * *

Clary gave a small smile as Magnus and Alec entered the room, she leaned back in her chair and relaxed almost completely - not something unheard of in the interrogation room. Luke was still observing, of course, he was their to view the suspects and consider the psychological point of view.

“Alright,” Magnus sat down and leaned forward on the table, “so let’s start of simple Clary, tell me about your relationship with your brother.”

”Well, when we were younger, we got along amazingly - we were almost inseperable. Along the way, things got tougher and he turned against me, against my mother. He was an A grade asshole. Life changed drastically, my mom left my dad and took me with her but left Sebastian with him. I made efforts to reconcile with my brother but he was still awful. He was emotionally manipulative and the last time we were together, he grabbed my arm and even pushed me against a wall. So I left him and made sure to cut off all contact.”

”Can you tell me what you last said to your brother?”

”She already told us,” Alec commented but Magnus waved a hand at him.

“I said, ‘you’re a disgusting asshole and I wish you were dead’,” she repeated the words to Magnus, “of course, I wouldn’t have gone through with killing him.”

”We know that it’s not her, why are we wasting our time?” Alec pleaded Magnus, he stood up in protest but Magnus tugged him back down into his seat. 

“Clary is a suspect, Alec, we need to question her.”

”Let me place my argument,” Alec began quickly, “if Clary was in anyway a murderer, she would know how to dispose of a body, she wouldn’t have been as sloppy as this one was. She could have easily destroyed the evidence the right way.”

Magnus raised an eyebrow at Alec, “please, Alexander, let me get this interrogation over with.”

”No way,” Alec crossed his arms in protest, “the facts are that Clary isn’t our killer.”

”Provide me with evidence and I’ll believe you.”

Alec looked to Clary and thought quickly, he turned with a smile, “she’s short.”

”What?”

”Well, the murderer hit our victim over the head with a weapon, fact is Clary is 164 centimeters tall, our victim is 184 centimeters. The impact to the back of the skull didn’t come from a lower angle, it came down on the victim, even with heels on, Clary wouldn’t have been able to get the leverage to hit him from that angle with that force,” he looked to Clary who was grinning up at him, then he turned to Magnus, “take that, Bane.”

Magnus nodded slowly, “not bad at all, Bones.”

Alec rolled his eyes and held his hand out to Clary, “I think this interrogation is over, little girl.”

Clary stood up from her seat and smiled to Magnus, “good enough?”

”Suppose you were standing on something,” Magnus threw in the variable.

“To know that, you’d need to find the environment of the original death,” Clary informed as she crossed her legs, “so you’ll need to talk to Izzy. Might I suggest, telling my father about his son? He wouldn’t have thought anything of the disappearence, Sebastian is a strange kid who constantly gets up to no good. If he goes awol for a little while, it’s nobody’s concern.”

* * * * *

Izzy turned to Alec and smiled, “so, our newbie found a piece of gravel,” she pointed over Simon who was examining the cadaver, “not too bad, he could be a match for you.”

Alec glared at his sister, “that’s insulting.”

”There’s also evidence that he was near a source of water,” Izzy added, “and,” she pointed to one of the legs, “there were paint chips. Want to know more? The paint chips came from something metal.”

“A weapon?”

”A shipping container,” Izzy grinned, “I believe the victim was attacked at the docks.”

“You’re amazing, little sister,” Alec cheered proudly, “so we need to get to the docks as soon as possible, we’ll need to look for possible fire damage. Magnus,” he called out the agent’s name and turned around, seeing Magnus talking to Luke. Magnus turned curiously, “we have to go to the docks.”

Magnus nodded and made his way to Alec’s side, “alright then, I guess we’ll get going.”

”Izzy’s coming with us,” Alec added quickly, “you can take samples of the area in case we can’t find any other evidence.”

”Of course,” Izzy pulled off her gloves and followed Alec and Magnus away from the cadaver, “finally getting in on the action.”


	3. The Movement In The Cadaver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izzy, Magnus and Alec locate the scene of the murder and discover more information about their victim's demise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the couple of days of waiting but I've kind of been taken over since I'm teching for a show next week. I may not be updating for a week or so but I will try to update as soon as I can!!
> 
> Thank you all for the kudos and comments! :)

They arrived at the docks and quickly rushed out of the car, “this place is like a maze,” Izzy sighed as she examined the area, “shipping crate after shipping crate, this is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack.”

”Magnet,” Alec replied quickly.

“Huh?”

“Use a magnet, it would make the search for the needle much easier,” he commented and looked around curiously, “did anyone find out how long the victim has been dead?”

”It was difficult but Simon estimated three weeks.”

“Three weeks,” Magnus repeated.

“Three weeks ago we had the storm, continuous rain and wind,” Alec frowned, “the body wouldn’t have been as damaged if set on fire in those kind of conditions.”

”So what, then?” Magnus raised an eyebrow.

“If he did die during the storm then the fire was most likely started inside.”

“There are multiple indications that the victim was attacked and possibly killed outside,” Izzy informed, pulling a face, “so this victim had three places of rest.”

”Don’t hypothesise,” Alec rolled his eyes at Izzy, “it doesn’t make you look any smarter, it gives you false hope that you know the answer but you might not.”

Izzy turned away, “right, right, no hypothesising around Bones.”

“You’re not going to start calling me that as well, are you?” Alec growled, he didn’t wait for an answer, he began to make his way around the maze of shipping containers. Izzy turned to Magnus and pulled a face mimicking her brother before making her own way around, they decided to search different areas to cover more ground. 

Izzy gathered some of the gravel and placed it in a small container before putting it into her bag, she carefully examined the surroundings, she knew that the murder had to have taken place in this area, even if it was questioned by her brother or Magnus. As she turned a corner she paused and backed up, and then she took another attempt at the corner - this time running. 

She knew that this was more of Alec’s attempt at figuring things out but she also knew that she was right with what she had tried. Turning the sharp corner was difficult and she fell against one of the containers, one where the paint was peeling off. After colliding with the container she stumbled forward and stopped herself from falling at a junction of paths. She stood up straight and turned left where Alec had appeared down a path. She gasped and crouched down to examine the floor, Alec approached her slowly. 

“Izzy, are you alright?”

”I’m perfectly fine, in fact I know that this is where the attacker struck him in the head. He was chased!”

”Hypoth-”

”It’s not a hypothesis, Alec, I ran around the corner, scraped my right leg against a storage container and threw off my balance. I came to a stop at this junction and you came from my left.”

”The killer was chasing the victim,” Alec nodded, “but they knew this area better than the victim, took this path and then used his weapon to take the victim by surprise when he tried to regain his direction, okay, I can see how you got to this. Have you got samples of the paint chip to compare?”

Izzy nodded and turned to show Alec her leg, “would you look at that,” she carefully picked up a paint chip that had traced it’s way onto her when she hit the container, and she then placed it into a container as she stood up.

”Where’s Bane?” Alec asked suddenly.

“Why? Worried about your boyfriend?”

”What? No. He’s roughly the same height as our victim, I want to test something, can you go find him?”

Izzy nodded and left. Once he was alone Alec examined the area curiously, using his arm to recreate an attack on the victim he dropped his arm back and turned to follow the aim. How he had missed it before, he didn’t know, but on the ground near the edge of one of the shipping containers was a section of a pipe. He let out a huff of laughter and ran over to it before picking it up.

“Found him,” Izzy returned quickly with Magnus behind her.

“And I found this,” Alec announced proudly, “this pipe is a match for the damage to the skull.”

”No way can you tell that right now,” Magnus frowned.

“There’s a dent in the pipe, I remember that pattern in the skull, a pattern where the skull wasn’t damaged. Make sense?”

”I guess.”

“Bend over,” Alec ordered to Magnus as he stood in the junction of paths.

“That’s my cue to leave,” Izzy turned away.

”No, you need to stay,” Alec looked up at her, pulling a face. Magnus raised his eyebrows as Alec positioned him in the junction of the paths, “if he had lost his balance he’s have to regain himself. The damage was to the parietal, if the victim was leaning forward with his had hanging down,” he moved Magnus as he explained, “then the killer had an easier target, if they were hidden here, they’d just,” Alec held up the pipe.

”Woah,” Magnus stood up straight, “you’re not recreating the scene with me.”

”What? Get down.”

”You’re going to hit me in the head with a pipe!”

“Relax, I’m going to do it slowly so it won’t affect you,” he shrugged and pushed Magnus back into position, then he brought the weapon up and slowly moved it down. He stopped, hovering above the same area where the boy had been hit, “take this,” he passed the pipe to Izzy and gently pushed Magnus down, “the blow to the head didn’t knock him out, but he would have been knocked to the floor.”

Magnus fell down as asked, he pushed himself up again, “if he had been killed here wouldn’t there be… You know, more blood?”

”It’s not that much but the gravel here was disturbed,” Alec pointed forward of Magnus, “it looks as though he was dragged.”

”Or he dragged himself,” Izzy added, she began to move down the path, she examined the ground carefully, the disturbance stops here,” she looked up, “and the blood starts.”

“Blood,” Magnus jumped up onto his feet, he and Alec rushed to Izzy’s side.

“So say he crawled to here,” Izzy pictured the moment in her head, the killer follows him, flips him over and stabs him.”

”And then?” Magnus looked to the girl curiously.

”And then takes him somewhere else,” Alec almost mumbled, he approached a shipping container curiously, he easily pulled open the container and examined the inside quickly, “there’s scorching in here.”

”Three resting places,” Izzy grinned, “I kind of feel sorry for him, being moved so much after death.”

“It’s not the first,” Alec responded in a low voice.

* * * * *

“You’re still holding Maia?” Clary asked as she looked at the girl that was in the interrogation room again.

“The boy was found in her bed,” Magnus responded quickly, “she’s the main suspect.”

”Who’d do that?” Simon grumbled from the side, “move a corpse to their own bed.”

“She’s around the same height as me,” Clary shook her head, “if I’m clear to go, she’s clear too.”

“I can’t believe you’re claiming our main suspect is innocent.”

”Not only is she not the right height, she’s also injured.”

”Actually our theory shows that Sebastian was hunched over when he was hit,” Alec informed Clary quickly.

“Then I’m a suspect again,” she held out her hands, “take me in.”

”We know it’s not you.”

”What about Maia?” Clary snapped, “it’s clearly not her!”

”There was a dead body found in her bed, Clary!” Magnus whispered to Clary suddenly, “even if she didn’t kill him, she had a dead body in her place. She could lead us to the killer!”

“We’re looking into the pipe,” Alec stopped Magnus, “the body may have been in her bed but just by looking at her, I know the idea of it terrifies her. She was out of town when you found her, but the cadaver wasn’t in her room before she had left town. Someone planted it there.”

Magnus raised an eyebrow, “how do you know-”

”I spoke to her.”

”Bones!”

”What? She looked uncomfortable so I was speaking to her about her time out of town, she was gone for a week before the body was found and it wasn’t in there for that long, trust me - I know my dead bodies better than anyone else, that body was moved into the room within the week of Maia’s trip.”

“But Izzy found evidence that the body was hidden in her cello case as we had expected.”

“Maia was out of town, Magnus,” Alec snapped, “she’s accounted for as well, she was with her mother.”

”Why don’t you leave the investigation of people to me, Bones?” Magnus retorted quickly, “stick to the people you’re good at talking to. The dead ones.”

Alec watched as Magnus walked away from the group, he looked over to Clary and Simon, “Simon, can you work with Izzy to… Figure out the weapon used to stab the victim, Clary can you… Do what you do,” he mumbled and then turned away, rushing down the steps and away from the members of his team.

He made his way into his office and closed the door behind him, one thing he hated about his office was the fact that he got little to no privacy. The windows showed through to the main area of the labs, he could - however - sit in the corner of the room on a chair he had placed perfectly so people couldn’t just peek in at him. He sat down in the chair and stared out in front of him.

 _How selfish_ , he thought to himself, _sulking when there’s a murderer out there. I should be out there assisting but… Why am I letting him get to me?_

Alec and Magnus had been at odds before, but Magnus’s spurt of anger was out of character. He had made jokes about Alec’s skills before but the way he had said the last insult was harsher than the other times. Alec didn’t know why it hurt so much, but it did. 

“Alec.”

Alec looked up to the door where Clary had made her way into the room, “Clary,” he stood up and moved over to her, “you know… Wh-when I said-”

”Magnus only said what he said because of the stress of the case, disagreeing with his main suspect really kicks down his ego,” she taunted, “so what say you play a little game with his emotions,” she leaned in and grinned, “if he thinks you’re only talented at talking to dead people then don’t talk to him, since he’s so… Lively.”

Alec let a smile grow on his face, “you know, that’s not a bad idea, little girl.”

“Oh, and you know how you hate being called Bones,” Clary grabbed Alec’s hands, “I don’t like being called little girl,” she winked and then turned and left the room. 

* * * * *

Magnus watched Maia curiously, he just sat, studying her in silence until she finally decided to speak.

”Where’s your friend?”

Magnus shook his head, “I don’t think he’ll be joining us.”

”Why?”

”Because his speciality is cadavers not suspects.”

“That’s a shame,” Maia tutted, “he was smart.”

Magnus tried not to smile, “Maia listen, the corpse was carried in your cello case back to your apartment, so you do see why I suspect you, right?” 

“Of course I see how you suspect me,” she sighed, “but I was-”

”Out of town visiting your mother the day the body showed up in your apartment,” Magnus nodded, “my partner told me.”

“Your partner?” Maia raised her eyebrows, “like official business stuff partner or under the covers partner.”

“Official,” Magnus answered, “purely…”

”Because he looked at you like you were under the covers partners.”

”If he was in here, he’d probably think you were trying to say undercover,” Magnus joked quickly, getting Maia into a place of comfort, “Maia, can I talk to you about your ex-boyfriend?”

Maia’s comfort dropped and she looked down at the table, “I guess, if you have to.”

“Do you know if he has any connection to someone named Sebastian Morgenstern?”

Maia raised an eyebrow, “no, he had a select group of friends, none of them are named Sebastian.”

”Co-workers? Enemies?”

Maia just shook her head, “no, as much as I hate to admit it, I know Jordan. He’d never want to be in communication with someone called ‘Sebastian Morgenstern’.”

“Why not?”

”Doesn’t that scream rich white boy to you?”

”That’s exactly what he was,” Magnus leaned forward, “so Maia, was that a guess or do you know Sebastian?”

Maia pressed her lips together, and avoided eye contact with Magnus, “he stopped by the bar multiple times.”

”The bar?”

”Hunter’s Moon,” Maia sighed, “I work there. He stopped by and did hit on me multiple times. I wasn’t going to fall for someone like that again, when I denied his charms he got angry.”

”And you killed him?”

”No, I kicked him out of the bar. He came back again and again, didn’t talk to me but he’d speak to various girls at the bar and touch them innapropriately. The most I know about this kid, was that he was sexually assaulting girls. He’s dead now? Good, he deserves it.”

”Careful not to talk about a victim like that when you’re the main suspect darling,” Magnus winked, “it only makes you more suspicous.”

”You already know I wasn’t in town when he was oved to my apartment.”

”Yes, but you were in town when he died,” Magnus raised his eyebrows.

“I didn’t kill this guy, you’re going around in circles here, Magnus.”

”Past cases have proven to circle,” he shrugged and leaned back, “perhaps someone was trying to bring the body back to you.”

”I didn’t kill him!”

“You’re still the main suspect of this case,” Magnus stood up, “so you’ll be staying with us for a little while.”

* * * * *

“Why haven’t you taken my father in for questioning yet,” Clary asked as she rushed to catch up with Magnus.

“Because I haven’t managed to find contact with him,” Magnus admitted, not turning to Clary as he spoke.

”Then you should have asked me, I have contact with him, he is - after all - my father.”

”I didn’t want it to get any more personal for you.” 

“Why because my brother’s dead and I’m a suspect? God, you’re meant to be good at reading people, Bane. So read me, right now I’m saying ‘I don’t give a fuck if it’s personal, call my dad’. Oh right, and you’re so good at reading people that you manage to offend and upset one of the strongest members of this team, congratulations,” she mumbled the end of the sentence as she pulled out her phone. 

“Wait, did I upset Alec?”

”You did kind of attack his lack of social skills, you completely undermined him and didn’t even try to care that he might struggle with social interactions. Izzy said since he was a kid he struggled to communicate.”

Magnus stopped walking and looked at Clary, “really?”

”Yes,” Clary shrugged, “so maybe you should apologise. Whilst you do that, I’ll be calling my dad.”

Magnus watched the redhead leave his side, he thought about what she had said and decided she was right, he had to apologise for what he said to Alec. He looked around curiously before making his way to Alec’s office, if there was anywhere Alec would be, it’d be in his office. He pushed the door open and watched silently as Alec was looking down at something on his desk.

”There you are, Alexander,” Magnus smiled as he spoke, “I questioned Maia again.”

Alec didn’t respond.

”She said you were smart,” Magnus added, “and she was upset you weren’t in there. Weird, I know. She probably knew you’d be able to read her like a book.”

Magnus heard a scoff from Alec, but that was all.

“How’s it going? The science part?”

Alec turned, but didn’t look at Magnus, he began walking towards him - or rather towards the door.

“Bones, come on,” Magnus made a move to follow him, “you’re going to cut me off now? Stop speaking to me?”

Silence.

“Right, silent treatment. Look, I’m sorry for what I said.”

Alec made his way toward the center table where the body was kept, scanning his ID card and rushing up the steps, Magnus still kept behind him as he approached his team. 

“Did you find anything?”

”Well Izzy’s hunch was right,” Simon smiled up to Alec, “the victim would have been flipped and stabbed directly from above, an estimate of twenty five to thirty times.”

Alec placed a hand on Simon’s shoulder, “any idea of the murder weapon?”

“Regular stainless steel kitchen knife,” Simon admitted, “not that exciting I know.”

“And doesn’t narrow it down,” Izzy sighed, “someone grabbed a knife from their kitchen and plunged it into the boy.”

”Plunged?” Magnus repeated the word and pulled a face.

”Actually,” Simon turned to Izzy and held out a finger, “the markings on the rib suggest this knife was unused before the attack.”

”If you can identify the size of the knife you can identify the brand, right?” Alec looked to Simon expecting the boy to faulter.

”I can do just that,” Simon clapped his hands together and was pleased to see the surprised look on Alec’s face.

“So the killer just bought a brand new knife, purely to kill this kid,” Magnus stood next to Alec, “intriguing. We can look around see who bought a knife close to the time of death.”

”The knife was new but it could have easily been bought in advance,” Izzy replied to Magnus, “so have fun with that.”

“Alec,” Magnus turned to his partner, “if we went to the victim’s ho-”

”Lewis,” Alec called out.

Simon turned around and rushed over to the body again, “it’s Simon.”

”The knife is the size of an average kitchen knife, I don’t think you’re going to find an answer.”

”Bones…”

”So don’t waste your time searching for it, instead can we figure out if there’s any evidence of the killer? Any evidence at all?”

“I’ll do that, sir.”

”Sir?” Alec pulled a face, “no, don’t call me sir, it’s worse than Bones.”

”I think Bones is a nic-”

”Call me Dr. Lightwood, or Alec, whichever you prefer.”

”Okay Dr. Lightwood,” Simon grinned to the man and then began to examine the body once again. 

“Alec, why aren’t you talking to me?”

Alec turned to Magnus suddenly, “because you’re not a cadaver,” he pulled a sarcastic face and then turned back to the body.

”Okay, I’m sorry for what I said earlier.”

”It’s amazing,” Alec looked up over to Izzy, “how people might have a heartbeat, but they have no heart.”

Izzy did her best not to laugh as she looked over to Magnus, “that was the bitchiest thing he’s ever said, you’re a dead man, Bane.”

”At this point I’d rather be one so my partner would talk to me,” Magnus replied to Izzy.

* * * * *

Clary had just placed her phone to her ear when Jace pulled it away from her, “what are you doing Ms. Fray?”

”Calling in my dad,” Clary shrugged, “he doesn’t know.”

”No, nope, you can’t do that,” Jace crossed his arms, “you, Ms. Fray, are a suspect. I’m sorry but you can’t be involved in this investigation.”

”What?”

”It’s a precaution,” Jace sighed, “anyone that knows a suspect can’t be involved with the case.”

”Surely then none of you can be involved,” Clary faked a gasp to Jace, “if I’m a suspect, you guys all know me.”

”Hey don’t make this case close up to soon,” Jace frowned to her, “shit, this entire thing is going to throw our investigation out of the window.”

”The nights of the storm,” Clary gasped, “Izzy told me that’s when it happened, but during the storm, we were looking into another body, remember? I was with you guys when my brother died!”

”How did it take you this long to get to that?”

”I don’t know,” Clary sighed, “but it did.”

”We still can’t let you work on this,” Jace shook his head, “your dad hasn’t called in a missing person so in my books, that makes him a suspect. I’m sorry you’ll have to sit out of this one Clary.”

The girl nodded, “I understand, I’ll uh… I’ll find another way to occupy my time.”

“Thank you for understanding, Clary,” Jace offered her a smile, “I’ll let the team know. I’m so sorry.”

”It’s fine, as long as you catch whoever killed my brother, it’s fine.”


	4. The Initials In The Photograph

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec and Magnus make some discoveries about their victim and find a possible lead.

Magnus still continued to try talking to Alec, but it seemed as thhough Alec wanted nothing to do with him. When Alec walked away for the seventh time Magnus sighed.

“Bye, bye, partnership.”

Apparently, that was enough to catch Alec’s attention, he turned around and slowly walked back to Magnus, “what? No, you can’t call off our partnership because of this. We’re a team.”

“Ah, I finally got you,” Magnus grinned.

Alec crossed his arms, “nice psychology.”

”Why were you ignoring me for so long? I apologised.”

”It was a game,” Alec admitted, “I was also trying to prove to myself that I didn’t need to interact with you but, I think I do,” he finished the last sentence quietly, “but don’t tell the dead bodies, they’ll get jealous.”

Magnus let out a chuckle, “I see the silence improved your humour.”

”I’m always funny, you just don’t understand the big words.”

”Right, that’s it,” Magnus rolled his eyes, “hey, so they’ve given us an address for the victim’s home, we should go there, talk to his father.”

”You want me to come talk to a living person?”

”Alright cutie,” Magnus placed his hands on Alec’s shoulders, “I want you to see if you can salvage any information from the boy’s bedroom.”

“You called me cutie,” Alec repeated and let out a laugh, “alright, let’s go. Partner.”

Magus grinned and turned around, Alec followed him to his car. 

The trip wasn’t as silent as Magnus had expected it, Alec had explained every piece of evidence of the trauma to the body to Magnus. Of course Magnus had done his best not to be confused by it all, he was getting used to Alec’s explanations by now. They arrived to the house, however, before Alec reached the end of the explanation so Magnus had to cut him short. 

They walked side by side up to the door, “Valentine Morgenstern.”

”I can’t believe Clary’s father is named after a saint,” Alec whispered, “all knowledge of him from Clary shows he was anything but a saint, to her and her mother at least. Apparently he loved his son more than anything.”

“Evil loves evil,” Magnus mumbled, “Maia said that Sebastian sexually assaulted girls.”

“I bet there’ll be some suggestions to that in his room,” Alec smiled as Magnus reached forward to knock on the door. 

They waited in silence, it didn’t take long for the door to open and Magnus instantly looked up at the man, “are you Valentine Morgenstern?”

”Yes, and you are?”

”I’m Magnus Bane, FBI,” Magnus flashed his badge, “and this is my Forensic Anthropologist assitant,” Magnus paused and Alec was about to protest but he continued, “we need to talk about your son… Sebastian Morgenstern.”

“Sebastian,” Valentine repeated hesitantly, “is… Is he okay? Did he do something wrong? I know he’s a-”

”Your son is dead,” Alec informed the man, and he received a glare from Magnus.

“Bones, you know it’s polite to ask them if we can come inside first.”

”You were prolonging the inevitable,” Alec shrugged and then looked to the man who seemed to be in shock at the news, “may we come inside?”

”Uh, yes, yes,” the man nodded and welcomed Magnus and Alec inside, as they moved inside Alec leaned closer to Magnus so he could whisper.

”You know, I’m not your assistant.”

“It sounded endearing.”

”I’m your partner.”

”Yeah, okay, I’m sorry.”

Valentine let them sit down in the living room, he sat in his own chair and covered his face with his hands, “my son is…”

”Dead.”

”Alec!”

”Facts, Magnus, they’re facts.”

“How?”

”Well-”

“Somebody murdered him,” Alec leaned forward as he spoke, “somebody that he angered most likely, we heard that-”

”Alec,” Magnus placed his hand over his partner’s knee, “let me do the talking, okay?”

“Okay, sorry.”

”Mr. Morgenstern, do you know anybody that would have anything against Sebastian?”

”The world,” Valentine let out a bitter laugh, “everybody hated my son. Except me. I knew that he was misunderstood.”

”Misunderstood?” Alec blurted out, “your son sexually assaulted girls for the fun of it, he wasn’t misundestood he wa-”

“Can my partner examine your son’s bedroom whilst we talk? It’ll make the whole thing much easier,” Magnus commented to the man, and after a moment of hesitation, Valentine nodded.

“Yes, yes, up the stairs, it’s the first door.”

“Thanks,” Alec mumbled as he stood up from the seat, he glared down at Magnus and then turned and made his way towards the stairs. He examined photographs on the wall as he walked, noticing how they weren’t family photos as most people would have, they were artistic photos with a watermark of JCM at the bottom. Alec made sure to take note of the photos, if there was any evidence of a personal connection he’d get Magnus to track down whoever JCM was. When he reached the top of the stairs he walked straight into the first room. It was painted black, and the carpet was a matching shade.

“Truly Gothic,” he whispered to himself as he glanced around, the room was lit up by the sunlight through the window but he turned on the light switch any just in case. The room was clean, fully made up - which Alec wasn’t used to seeing with teenage bedrooms. He closed the door behind him and examined it carefully, one thing he noticed was one of the drawers which wasn’t fully closed. He walked over to it and pulled it open, revealing a stack og magazines. Pornographic magazines of course. Alec pulled a face and closed the drawer again, that drawer was obviously only opened for Sebastian’s personal needs. He opened the drawer above the magazines and found pictures of Clary and her mother, he pulled them out and examined them, a few photos into the stack he found one of the entire family when they were younger. They seemed happy, but a lot of photos were lies.

Alec placed the photos on top of the drawers and looked into the open one again, there was nothing else. So he kept the family photos above the pornographic magazines, whether that meant anything, Alec didn’t know. He placed the photos back into the drawer and closed it. 

He moved over to the bed and sat down. He looked at the bed and cocked his head, Alec knew instantly that for a boy who liked to sexually assault girls, he didn’t get many back in his room. He stood up again and continued to look around the room, his eyes landed on a set of photographs, another pile. He moved over to them and noticed that they were less like the ones in the drawer and more like the ones on the wall, each one watermarked with JCM. On the wall by the photos was a calender, still flipped to the previous month. Several dates on the calender were marked ‘JCM’ and then followed by a location. Alec smiled at the calender, it practically confirmed that JCM was someone Sebastian knew, and Alec would figure out who that was.

He pulled on the top drawer of the desk but it was locked, and Alec doubted that he’d find a key.

Looking around the room made Alec realise he might not find a motive for the murder, but he knew he needed to find out who JCM was, since one of the marked dates on the calender matched Sebastian’s date of death.

* * * * *

Magnus spoke briefly to Valentine about his son but nothing suspicious showed in the man. He called Alec down and met him at the bottom of the stairs, Alec stayed silent but made sure to take one last glance at the bottom photo before leaving. When they were out of the house Alec leaned closer to Magnus.

”We need to figure out who he knows with the intials ‘JCM’, see, Sebastian had a calender and on the estimated date of Sebastian’s death it said ‘JCM - Redhook Docks’. ‘JCM’ is a photographer,” Alec mumbled, “the photographs in the house, all belong to this ‘JCM’ guy, Sebastian must be really good friends with him, or working for him - enough to make his dad hang up his pictures as decoration.”

Magnus nodded, “we’ll check that out.”

Alec smiled to Magnus, “did you get anything from Valentine?”

”He was saying how Sebastian was mostly alone. He didn’t say anything about Sebastian having a job but it’s more likely than him having a friend. Sebastian was your regular loner, but not because he was necessarily geeky as most are portrayed in modern cinema but… Because he was such an asshole, if you ask me - all high school loners seem to be assholes eventually.”

Alec stopped, “am I an asshole?”

”No,” Magnus turned with a laugh, “but you weren’t a…” He cocked his head to the side, “were you?”

”I was the loner, and now look at me - playing with dead bodies. No wonder people didn’t like me.”

“Hey, this doesn’t make you unlikeable.”

“You make fun of me for it,” Alec whispered, they both got into the car and Alec turned to Magnus, “what were you in high school?”

“I guess I was known as more of a nerdy type, mixed with athletic. I was the Athlete with the nerdy friend, like Scott Howard in Teen Wolf.”

”Teen Wolf?”

”The film, not the show,” Magnus explained, when there was no response he let out a laugh, “I sometimes forget about your cultural deficit mind,” Magnus tutted. 

“Cultural deficit? Well, I suppose I am, but I’m definitely not deficit in the culture of dead bodies. So… You had a friend in high school, you weren’t entirely unflattering.”

”Oh, ha ha,” Magnus deadpanned, he smiled, “he works for the FBI too, friends in childhood, co-workers in adulthood.”

”Do I know him?”

”Not that I know of,” Magnus shook his head, “he’s a psychologist, like Luke.”

“Oh, cool. What would you have done if he was assigned to us?”

”They most likely didn’t assign him to us on purpose because of our past friendship,” Magnus commented easily, “I should arrange a visit with him sometime.”

”Why? You can go to Luke.”

”I mean as a friend,” Magnus laughed.

“Oh, right. Cool. You should do that.”

”You could come with me, if you wanted,” Magnus offered, “I mean if you have no friends from your past, I could exend my friendship.”

”I don’t know.”

”You know,” Magnus tried to hide a chuckle, “a lot of people would describe him as… Sweet.”

Alec raised an eyebrow as Magus began to laugh, “why’s that funny?”

”It’s… Never mind.”

* * * * *

“Anyone know of a local photographer that watermarks their pictures with ‘JCM’?” Magnus asked as he approached the team, “because Alec is sure that Sebastian was supposed to meet up with ‘JCM’ the day of the murder… At the location of the murder.”

“Suspicious,” Jace nodded, “and you’re asking us instead of the FBI, why?”

”I just… Thought you’d guys-”

”He likes us more,” Alec joked to his team. 

”Yeah sure,” Magnus waved a hand, “so find this photographer, and we’ll bring him in for questioning. Oh, ‘JCM’… You’re in big trouble.”

”JCM?” Clary’s voice made the team turn around, she was stood at the bottom of the steps out of her lab clothes, “I know I’m not meant to help with the case but he’s not a suspect.”

”How do you deduct that?”

”Sebastian. Sebastian is JCM.”

Magnus looked over to Alec who’s smile dropped, “we didn’t think about that.”

“Well, now the camera in his room makes sense.”

”All of his photos are taken with that camera, it’s the only one he has so he treasures it. JCM stands for Jonathon Christopher Morgenstern, his photographer alias. Technically his birthname too, but he goes by Sebastian.”

”The boy with three names, in three places of rest,” Izzy hissed, “I doubt it was done of purpose.”

”That’s not much of a conclusive connection,” Alec looked over to his sister, “so the boy was a photographer, he went to Redhook to take photos. Somebody knew he was there. They followed him there and then provoked an attack, once he was scared he began to run, turned a corner, bumped into a container and lost his balance. Then the attacker took their aim and-”

”Splat,” Magnus grinned, “Sebastian tries to crawl away but the attacker stops him, flips him and stabs him with an unused kitchen knife. Takes the body into a container and sets him alight.”

”The part that doesn’t make sense is the movement of the body,” Alec sighed, “why would the killer return and risk leaving his DNA on the scene?”

“Except, he didn’t,” Magnus pointed out, “he didn’t leave any DNA, or was there something on the pipe?”

”Nope,” Simon shook his head, “this guy knew what he was doing, didn’t he.”

”Or she,” Alec almost whispered, turning to Clary, “you’re a friend, Clary. But you’re a suspect… And considering this killer knew what they were doing.”

”Oh come on,” Clary scoffed, “we all know it wasn’t me,” the group went silent and looked at each other, there was an awkward air around them which made Clary dropped her arms to her sides, “oh… You… You think... Right, I should-”

”Go,” Alec frowned down at her, “heck, get a headstart at running if you’re guilty.”

”No, no, no,” Magnus rushed after Clary, “you’re not going to run away, are you biscuit?”

”No, I’m not. Because I’m not the killer, if I was I would have known every trick and trade, I would have known how to get rid of all evidence that the body was kept at the docks, come on guys - I would have done the cleanest murder job you had ever seen.”

”At least we know who to suspect if we can’t identify anything about a body,” Izzy grinned to Clary.

“I’ll be your main suspect,” Clary took a sarcastic bow and then turned away from her friends, “I’ll be out living my life, like a true forensic artist, if I see anything that could help I’ll give you a call.”

Magnus’s phone began to vibrate in his pocket, he pulled it out and answered the call, “Special Agent Bane,” Alec rolled his eyes at that introduction, “yes, yes of course. I’m on my way.”

The called ended and Alec curiously cocked his head to Magnus, “what was that?”

“They’ve got Maia Robert’s boyfriend in, I have to interrogate him,” he smiled to Alec, “are you coming?”

“But-”

”Please?”

”I’d love to,” Alec rushed over to his partner and left the lab with him. 

* * * * *

The boy in front of them was rough looking for a start, he didn’t want to be there - then again, did anyone ever want to be there? He was tapping the table as Magnus and Alec walked into the room, he didn’t seem to care about anything or anyone. He was just ignorant looking. Magnus and Alec took their seats opposite the boy and Magnus instantly did the friendly FBI agent lean forward on the table.

“Jordan Kyle, I’m Special Agent Bane and this is my partner Dr. Alec Lightwood, we’re investigating the murder of Sebastian Morgenstern, something which you might have an idea about?”

”Who the fuck is that?”

”Watch your tone,” Magnus threatened, “remember you’re in the cuffs and I’ve got a gun.”

”So have I,” Alec added, almost excitedly.

“I don’t know who this Sebastian guy is, should I?”

Magnus glanced to Alec and then changed the subject, “you used to date Maia Roberts?”

”Maia,” Jordan repeated with a smile, “yeah. I loved her, gave her everything-”

”Including several contusions,” Alec narrowed his eyes at the boy, “yeah, I know you abused Maia.”

Jordan hesitated briefly, “not all the time, just something… Things got to that point.”

”There’s never an excuse to hurt someone you supposedly love,” Alec growled and sat back in his seat, “you’re a dick.”

“Oh, you know he’s serious, he never makes that kind of comparison,” Magnus commented.

”Wh-what? No, I’m not, I’m a good man I swear.”

“Right,” Alec frowned, “so why did Maia have marks on her neck, as though someone had strangled her and dug their nails into her neck?”

“Oh like you could prove it was me.”

”We can get Luke on it,” Alec looked to Magnus, “he’ll be able to tell if either of them are lying,” he shrugged and gave a bright smile, “professional psychologist,” he informed Jordan, “and he’ll give you a hard time if you don’t comply with his rules.”

”You’re sending a boy to Garroway for relationship advice?”

”We’re going to bring Garroway here,” Alec briefly corrected.

* * * * * 

After bringing Luke into the interrogation, they stood in the room next to the interrogation room where they could observe the suspect. Luke looked at Magnus and Alec, “he’s keeping very confident but there are some tell-tale signs that he’s lying to us. Lack of eye contact, and he’s got a little nervous twitch to him, he taps his forefinger against his thumb, like so,” he mimicked the movement to the men.

”But Alec does that,” Magnus looked up to Alec, “and he’s not exactly lying to us all the time.”

”It’s self-stimulation,” Alec informed Magnus, “for me. For him, it’s a tell. Like in poker.”

”You actually know about poker?” Magnus scoffed out a laugh as he looked at Alec, “I’m impressed.”

”Really?” Alec tried to hide the smile that came to his face, “I do know about some things, you know, it’s just modern films or television, or music… Or games… Or ways of life. Poker, though, I know about Poker.”

“Well, congratulations,” Magnus patted Alec on the back, “so this kid…”

”Things he was saying to you guys, I think Maia was telling the truth about him being abusive, in fact I’m certain.”

“This is why we love you,” Magnus grinned.


	5. The Abuser In The Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation seems to come to an end, until the team realise how sloppy they've been with their investigation.

“Dr. Lightwood, you may want to see this,” Simon grinned as Alec entered the lab, “we have evidence connecting Jordan Kyle to the corpse!” He clapped his hands together.

“So we have our killer,” Magnus commented as he followed the team, “sweet, who’s up for a brief celebration, drinks on me!”

”I’d rather have mine in a glass,” Alec replied before beginning to chuckle.

“Oh my God did you just crack a joke?” Magnus laughed along with Alec and placed his hand on his shoulder, “you’re starting to loosen up, I’m loving it.”

Alec smiled, “so, team outing?”

“Team outing,” Izzy chanted proudly as she rushed over, “can Clary join us, since she’s been cleared?”

Magnus nodded slowly, “I suppose,” he let a smile come to his face, “come on.”

* * * * *

They gathered in the Hunter’s Moon, Magnus and Alec were pleased to see Maia stood by the bar, she was unable to work due to her injury. She waved to them with her other hand and then turned back to talk to the current bartender. 

“I hate to be that person,” Clary whispered, “and as a suspect, it would be weird for me to say but… This entire case seemed to blow over with ease.”

”What was Jordan’s motive?” Alec pulled a face as he sat down, “oh God, we’ve been really sloppy here.”

“You’re right,” Magnus sighed, “but one drink and then we’ll get back on it, yeah? We’ll ask Jordan some questions again, figure out a motive.”

“Awesome,” Alec nodded.

”What do you want? A beer?”

”Ew, no,” Alec reacted as he pulled a face, “I just… I’ll have a water,” he smiled.

”Okay,” Magnus rolled his eyes playfully, “and you lot?”

He took note of what drinks they wanted and approached the bar, ordering once he got the attention of the bartender. He took the drinks back to the table and smiled as he sat down, “you did find evidence of Jordan Kyle on the body though, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, a hair,” Simon nodded. 

“He said he didn’t know Sebastian Morgenstern,” Luke mumbled, “I don’t trust him, he definitely did something wrong.”

”We’ll get a confession from him,” Alec grinned, “even if I have to break his phalanges!”

”No, you won’t break his… What the hell ar-”

”Fingers,” the group answered in unison. 

“Oh, no Alec you’re not going to break his fingers.”

Alec frowned, “you never let me have fun, I could break them with one swi-”

”No.”

”You’re so not fair,” Alec sighed, he let a smile play on his face when he looked at Magnus, “it would have been great. You know some males feel the need to exploit their supposed strength and fury to become an alpha in front of the person they’re attracted to. They think beating up a guy will woo the girl or boy who watches, it’s so… Primative.”

“I love when you explain stuff like that,” Magnus leaned on the table and let out a small laugh, “it’s sweet.”

”You guys should get a room,” Simon whispered, there was a roar of laughter from the group - including Magnus. Alec, however, sat dumbfounded.

“I don’t know what that means,” he admitted, giving Simon a curious look.

The grad student pulled a face, “it just… It mea-”

”Don’t try to explain it,” Jace placed his hand on Simon’s, there was a moment of tension between them and the contact brought a smile onto Simon’s face.

“Wait, no, I want to know.”

”It doesn’t matter too much Bones,” Magnus whispered, placing a hand on Alec’s shoulder, “perhaps I’ll explain it to you sometime in the future.”

“Alright.”

* * * * *

Once again, Magnus was facing Jordan Kyle, narrowing his eyes at the younger boy. 

“You told us you didn’t know Sebastian Morgernstern,” Magnus leaned forward as he began his question, “so why did we find a hair on his body? A hair that belonged to you.”

“I- I don’t know.”

”Right, just make this easier on us, kid.”

”I want a lawyer.”

Magnus hissed and leaned back, “you realise that just makes you even more of a suspect.”

”I won’t say anything else before I get a lawyer.”

”FIne,” Magnus gave an irritated sigh after he spoke, “we’ll get it sorted for you.”

He stood up from the table and left the room, seeing Alec waiting outside with a nervous expression, after seeing Magnus’s face, Alec’s frown increased and he tilted his head back, “you didn’t get one?”

”He asked for a lawyer.”

“Why do people have to do that, especially when they’re not guilty? Just tell us the truth.”

”Well I know one thing.”

”What?”

A smiled played it’s way onto Magnus’s face, “when they ask for a lawyer, they’re trying to hide something from us. Even if he keeps insiting he’s not the killer, he’s obviously hiding something form us - and I want to find out what that something is.”

”So do I,” Alec jumped at the opportunity, “can we play good cop bad cop?”

”You’re not breaking his fingers,” Magnus whispered, stepping closer to Alec.

Luke stepped out of the room next to the interrogation room, “you may want to come and see this,” he waved Alec and Magnus into the room. They looked through the window and watched as Jordan leaned forward holding his head in his hands. He was tapping his finger against his forehead and breathing heavily, “he’s nervous, and you know who ges nervous?”

”The guilty ones,” Magnus grinned, “oh Luke, you continue to surprise me.”

Magnus patted Luke on the back and then ran around back into the interrogation room, Alec and Luke continued to observe the room. 

“We’ll be sorting out the lawyer stuff soon, I promise,” Magnus sat down in the seat, “but I want to know why you’re acting like this.”

”Like what?”

”Like your’e hiding something from us, so tell us, Jordan Kyle - what are you hiding? There is evidence you came into contact with the victim, a hair. Unburnt. So you moved the body, perhaps you didn’t kill him - where you working with someone? Did they send you to clear up their work?”

Alec turned to Luke, “of course, the hair had no fire damage, Bane has been learning from us.”

”It’s common sense, Dr. Lightwood,” Luke chuckled, “it’s easy to miss things, you know.”

”Not for me, in fact missing stuff is something that I rarely ever do!”

”Alec, you have been seeming quite exhausted recently,” Luke admitted, whispering, “it’s possible that you’re just not energised enough to notice every little detail, has anything changed recently?”

Alec shrugged, “not that I can really think of,” he paused and tilted his head, “well… No.”

“Alec, it’s important for you to talk.”

”Can we save it for after the interrogation?” Alec squeezed his hands together, “please?”

“Of course.”

They looked back into the room where Magnus leaned in, “you’re not exactly giving me much to work with here. You were asked to dispose of their body, right? So you took it to Maia’s house, as revenge for her breaking up with you?”

Then the confidence cracked, “I didn’t know it… I didn’t know it was real, I thought… I thought it was a used halloween prop. A really detailed one, I thought…”

”You couldn’t smell it? The smell would give it away.”

“I can’t smell anything,” Jordan Kyle hissed, “at all. Check my medical records. Look, I found the body, thought it was a prop and then I knew what I had to do. I knew Maia was out of town, so I used my key and got into her place, I took her case and then collected the body.”

“If you thought it was a prop, why did you hide it?”

”Because if people saw me with a halloween prop of a dead person, they’d still be suspicious.”

Alec looked down to his phone and quickly dialled Jace’s number, once the phone was answered Alec began speaking, “I need you to take a look at Jordan Kyle’s medical files, he’s claming to have Anosmia. There are of course multiple causes for this happening, check for anything that could have caused it.”

“I’ve already got files and records for Jordan Kyle, and the medical files aren’t the ones you want. Rehabilitation Order, the boy was a drug addict.”

”Got it,” Alec hung up quickly and walked out of the room and straight into the interrogation room, “lift up your head,” he ordered as he stopped by the boy.

”Alec there was a reason you weren’t in this in-”

”Now!”

The boy complied and lifted up his head, Alec crouched down and examined the boy’s nostrils, he used the torch on his phone to get light into the passage and smiled at the result, he stood up and looked to Magnus, “he’s telling the truth, Anosmia caused by intranasal drug use, cocaine right?”

The boy glared up at Alec, “I’m clean now. Are you watching me from the other side of that mirror?”

”Don’t snap at me, I’m telling this agent that your story checks out, but continue to snap at me and maybe I suggest that you’re not clean and you were in fact high on drugs when you killed Sebastian Morgenstern!”

”Oh, that’s unlike you,” Magnus commented with a grin, “okay so you have no sense of smell, fair enough. You wanted to play a prank on your ex.”

”Yes.”

”You disturbed a crime scene.”

”Accidentally!”

”You broke into a home.”

”I had a key.”

“You didn’t live there.”

Alec looked at the boy, “your drug addiction, is that what caused you to abuse Maia. You abuse drugs, you abuse a girl, right?”

”Right, I wasn’t in my right mind!”

”No, that’s not the answer,” Alec smiled, “there’s never an excuse for domestic abuse, there’s going to be a reason for you to be arrested, and I can’t wait to watch you get arrested.”

”I’m not even going to argue with him,” Magnus flashed a smile, “in fact, how about we get that over with now!”

* * * * *

“That kid didn’t help us at all, sure we know how the body moved from the container to the room but we’re no closer to finding out our killer,” Magnus sighed as he looked around the lab, “we’ll figure this out.”

”Of course we will,” Alec nodded as he leaned closer to the body, “okay what have we missed? We have the murder weapon, the place, the victim. No motive, no murderer.”

“There has to be something we’re missing, perhaps there’s more evidence,” Simon hummed.

Magnus nodded to the team, “I’ll go back to my office, see if there’s anything else we can get on this, you guys keep doing your… Squinty thing.”

Alec tried not to laugh but he did, he ducked his head slightly as he did. Magnus smiled as he walked out of the lab.

”Alec,” Luke caught Alec’s attention, “can we have that chat now?”

”Yeah sure,” Alec smiled as he pulled off his glove. He followed Luke down the steps and towards the break area for the workers of the Institute, they sat down, briefly in silence.

“So, you’re exhaustion, you think there’s a cause?”

Alec leaned back, “some nights I have bad dreams, some days I stay late for work because I can’t sleep.”

”Bad dreams, about?”

”My brother, Max. I haven’t heard from him in ages,” he looked down at the floor, “I’m pretty sure my parents have cut ties with me because of… Me being… Attracted to males. Which, I don’t understand that ignorance at all. Every form of love between humans is natural, people just have different reactions to different pheremones. If I were to fall in love with a man, then it would be just as natural as my mother falling in love with my father.”

”Most of your co-workers wouldn’t expect you to be the loving type,” Luke commented cautiously.

”I’ve yet to find a mate bu-”

”I’m going to stop you right there,” Luke held out his hand and laughed, “don’t refer to another human as a mate.”

”A love interest,” Alec corrected, “well there’s a potential love interest but… I don’t think it would actually be a working relationship because everything would interfere and, why am I fretting over Bane like this I-”

”Bane? So the speculation was right, you and Agent Bane-”

Alec groaned and dropped his head, “I’ve said way too much.”

”Dr. Lightwood?” The pair were approached by a visitor, Mr. Morgenstern, “I found something that you might like to see, if you’re available to come to my home?”

Alec looked up to the man, “yes, yes. I’m okay with that,” he stood up, “can you tell the team that I’ve gone with Mr. Morgenstern?”

”Don’t you think somebody else should go with you?”

”No, I’ll be fine.”

“Alright,” Luke nodded, “bring back anything suspicious.”

”As always.”


	6. The Anthropologist In Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team have a realisation on who the killer is, but is it too late for Alec?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's finally arrived, little Lancey boy makes his first appearence in this chapter!

“No closer to finding a suspect,” Izzy whispered, “as much as I hate to say it, maybe it was Clary after all, she’d know how to keep evidence away from the body.”

“It wasn’t Clary,” Jace defended the girl quickly, “come on Iz, you can’t just put the blame on your girlfriend.”

”We’re not official yet,” Izzy reminded Jace, “I just think that… I don’t know, I’m worried. If it is her we’ll lose a valuable member of this team, none of you guys can recreate a face like she can.”

The group went quiet as Magnus approached them, “I’ve got nothing, but there has to be something! Something that we’ve completely missed. Where’s Alec?”

”He’s gone with Mr. Morgenstern, apparently there’s something he should see.”

”And they didn’t wait for me.”

”Alec was confident enough on his own,” Luke defended the anthropologist and gave a smile.

”Oh my God,” Simon whimpered, he stared at the surrounding team, “Clary said all of his photos are taken with the same camera and… Alec said the camera was in Sebastian’s room,” they all looked at each other with wide eyes, "if Sebastian was at Redhook to take photos... How did it get back to his room?"

“I think we all know who it is now,” Magnus rushed, “and if that’s true, then Alec is alone with him. I need to get there right now, Luke call for back up for me.”

”I’m coming,” Izzy demanded, “he’s my brother.”

”We’re all coming,” Jace responded.

”No, you’re staying here for your own safety, all of you, I’m sorry but that man is dangerous - he killed his son and then set him on fire!”

Magnus rushed away from the lab before anyone could follow him. It was clear to them all that he was deadly serious, so they sat back and all wished for the best, if Magnus didn’t get there in time - everything at the lab would fall apart. 

* * * * *

Valentine walked Alec into Sebastian’s room and Alec had noticed there wasn’t any difference in the room whatsoever, figured, other than the computer being on. The father waved his hand for Alec to sit down at the computer.

“There are some files on there with very interesting names,” he informed, he then gave a smile that Alec didn’t see, “would you like a drink?”

”Oh, no thanks.”

”Alright, I’m going to get myself one though, I’ll be right back.”

”Okay,” Alec smiled over his shoulder and then looked back to the screen, Valentine was right. There were folders in the computer which had very odd names.

_10M15A63I21A5_

When Alec examined it he noticed that inbetween the numbers, was the name Maia.

_10 **M** 15 **A** 63 **I** 21 **A** 5_

Inside that folder was various photographs of the girl, taken obviously without her consent.

_3C9L97A03R79Y3_

Clary.

_87G30R38E9T97E09L3_

Gretel.

There were also multiple documents with dates as the file name, Alec opened three and realised that they formed a diary, a diary where Sebastian expressed his inner rage and anger, the boy seemed like pure evil.

As Alec continued searching, he heard the door open again, knowing it was Mr. Morgenstern he didn’t turn around, “your son has candid photographs of your daughter in here, that folder makes the entire thing way creepi-” He froze when Valentine’s arm was around his waist and the blade of a kitchen knife has plunged thorugh his flesh into his stomach. He took a gasp for air as Valentine pulled it back out only to stab him again. Alec held his hands against the wound on instinct, there was already a lot of blood. When he saw the red colouring on his shirt he was certain he was going to die in that room, without seeing his team, his sister or even Agent Bane again. 

He didn’t want that, he wanted to live. He threw his arm out in defense and managed to push Valentine to the ground, enough for him to stand up from the chair, the knife was still in the second wound on Alec’s stomach. As much as it hurt, he didn’t want to take it out, knowing that if it stayed in, it would prolong his possibility of surviving.

As Valentine was about to get up the door opened, but Valentine didn’t stop, he reached for the knife in Alec’s stomach and yanked it down, causing Alec to let out a pained scream and then there was one single gunshot. Valentine fell, the knife in his hand. Alec also fell, directly onto the bed, he clutched his stomach. He knew it had been a while since he had last cried but the thought of letting go of his life scared him, tears streamed down his cheeks and sobs found their way out. He could just make out Magnus rushing toward the bed, placing his gun back in his holster as he moved.

“Alec, hey it’s going to be okay, medics will be here soon, I had to call them, I knew something might happen.”

”I- I- I don’t-” Alec winced as he pressed down against his wounds, “don’t want to die, M-Magnus.”

”You won’t! I know you won’t!” Alec knew Magnus was bluffing, there were tears falling from him onto Alec’s face but at that moment neither of them cared.

“Shirt,” Alec tugged at Magnus’s shirt and Magnus instantly pulled it off, he scrunched up the material and held it against Alec’s wounds.

“You’re going to be okay Alexander, I promise,” Magnus sniffed, Alec had never seen Magnus like this either, “you know what? When you wake up-”

”If.”

”When you wake up,” Magnus repeated, emphasising the when, “how about we go on a date? I know you like Java Jones.”

Alec managed to force a smile, but the moment was ruined as he let out another pained groan, finally though he spoke, “y-yes.”

”Yeah?”

”Ye-Ye-” Alec gave up trying to answer and whimpered.

Magnus let the medics take control as soon as they arrived, he could only look down at the body of Valentine. He had killed Clary’s father, but if he hadn’t shot, perhaps Alec would have been dead. Then, of course, the body was taken away, and Alec was taken to an ambulance. Magnus couldn’t bare losing his partner, they were the perfect pair. 

The thought of losing Alec could have been enough to drive Magnus insane, or even enough to kill him. 

* * * * *

“I’m training to become an agent,” Luke blurted out as he looked at the team, “I love psychology but… I feel like I could do far more if I was an agent, like Magnus.”

“Really?” Izzy smiled at him, “I think you’d be an amazing agent Luke.”

”It does mean I won’t be the shrink for you lot and your angsty lives anymore, they’ll bring in a replacement, but of course Magnus would probably put in a request to make sure I get to work with you guys.”

“I love you being our shrink though,” Jace pouted, “but you’re just going to leave us?”

”I’ll work with you again, that’s a promise.”

Izzy rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Luke, “things won’t be the same.”

”Of course not,” Luke chuckled.

Simon tapped the table nervously as he looked around, “is anyone else concerned about Magnus and Alec?”

”Of course, I’m trying to get you to focus on other stuff though,” Luke admitted.

As if on cue, Luke’s phone began to ring. He answered the call.

”Magnus! We were just- Oh… Oh… Is he okay?” Luke witnessed the panic spread across the team, “we’ll be there straight away. Okay. See you soon.”

”What’s wrong?” Izzy demanded.

”Alec’s in the hospital, come on.”

“What?” Izzy screeched, “what happened?”

”Magnus will explain it to us when we’re there. He sounded far too distressed to explain it over the phone.”

The team instantly followed Luke out of the lab, they were obviously panicked and worried for Alec, but they also all knew that they had to stay strong for the sake of him. The drive was quick and they were all eager to jump out as soon as they got to the hospital.

* * * * *

Alec could feel someone holding his hand, he squeezed the hand briefly before opening his eyes. He smiled as he looked up at Magnus who was resting against the side of the bed. He watched the joy spread across Magnus’s face.

“Oh thank God,” Magnus leaned forward, “I’m so glad you’re awake, I was so scared… Which - by the way - I’m not usually scared by that kind of stuff, I mean I’ve seen people I know die before so…. So you’d think I’d be use to it, but when I saw you… That-”

”It’s because you like me,” Alec taunted weakly, “we have… Feelings for each other, so o-obviously you’re going to be… To be upset if I had a chance of dying.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Magnus nodded, “so hey, we’re still going on that date.”

Alec smiled, “I would love that.” 

Alec looked over to the door as his team rushed in, Izzy didn’t stop until she was by his side, “oh Alec, I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

“It’s okay,” Alec whispered, “I should have… I should have known. What gave it away to you guys?”

”Clary had told us Sebastian only ever had one camera,” Magnus explained quietly, “the camera that you saw in his room. If Sebastian was going to Redhook docks to take photos, he’d have his camera with him, but it was in his room after he had been murdered. Then when I got there, it was instantly obvious, I mean he had a… Knife in-”

”Yeah,” Alec frowned, “but we won’t know a motive now… Which kind of-”

“Valentine said that he was the only one who understood his son,” Magnus sighed, “why would you kill your son if you were the only one who understood him?”

“Perhaps he understood the true terror that Sebastian was capable of,” Luke offered, “but hey, the case is over, how about we get onto our latest drama, and focus on the fact that Alec is alive and well.”

”I’m not well,” Alec mumbled, “and technically this could still cause my death, some people are thought to be healthy but they die days after they’re released from the hospital.”

”You’re not going to die,” Magnus whispered, “I won’t let that happen.”

“I shouldn’t have let you go alone,” Luke avoided eye contact with Alec as he spoke, “this… This is down to me, I am so sorry.”

”No, Luke,” Alec groaned, “no, it’s not your fault.”

Luke gave a small smile, “I’d just like to tell you now, that my change of career is not influenced by what happened.”

“Change of career?” Magnus looked up at him.

”I’m training to be a FBI agent instead of a FBI Psychologist,” Luke nodded, “I can still work along you guys.”

“I’ll miss having you,” Magnus smiled over to Luke, “to talk to, of course. But yes, I think that it would be amazing for you to work alongside us as an agent.”

Alec pushed himself up into a sitting position, wincing slightly at the pain of moving, “but what about our sessions…”

”They’ll be taken over by a new psychologist,” Luke sighed, “apparently he’s highly skilled, of course he won’t be better than me.”

“Nobody ever could be.”

* * * * *

Alec was out of the hospital days later, and was pleased to know there hadn’t been another case without him there. Clary had explained the relationship her father and her brother had, that he was always punishing him for making mistakes, and this time his mistake caused his death. They were proud that they had managed to solve what almost ended up as a dead end, but of course they were disappointed with themselves that simplest clue had slipped their mind. 

Clary arranged the funeral for her brother, the team were all present to support Clary and her mother. It was a joint funeral, father and son. Even if he had killed his son, he had always been by his side. And now, even in death. Alec stayed by Magnus throughout the service. Valentine had almost killed him and for some reason, in his mind, he could see Valentine jumping out of the coffin and attacking him again. 

Nobody seemed particularly upset by the deaths, perhaps Valentine and his son were just two men who didn’t deserve to live or be loved. That was how it would be. 

Alec ended up holding his hand over his wound, feeling like the regular portrayal of Napoleon Bonaparte. Magnus gave him a worried look every now and then but Alec would return the look with a smile. 

The service was over quick enough and perhaps it was harsh but not one tear was shed, in fact both Clary and her mother were smiling as they walked away from the coffins.

The team decided to make their way back to the lab once the service was over, Alec slipped his hand into Magnus’s as they walked, squeezing his hand every now and then. Izzy placed an arm around Clary’s shoulder once Jocelyn had parted from the group.

They entered the lab, chuckling about previous happenings at the lab - like the time Izzy had managed to set a teddy bear on fire with one of her experiments. Their laughter ceased when Alec came to a stop, noticing a man he didn’t recognise sat on the steps to the examination platform. He was wearing a suit and looking down at a folder, looking up once he noticed their presence.

”Oh, hi there,” he stood up, “I’m Dr. Lance Sweets, I’m here to talk to Dr. Alexander Lightwood?”

Alec cocked his head to the side about to respond but he was too shocked by Magnus leaving his side to begin.

“Lance!” Magnus chanted throwing out his arms.

Lance raised one eyebrow at the man before his expression slowly changed to one of recognition, “Magnus, woah you have… You look different.”

Magnus let out a laugh, “well, I have to be professional now, no makeup.”

”Ah,” Lance sighed, “that makes me feel less stupid for not recognising you straight away,” he smiled and quickly hugged the FBI agent, “it’s been so long.”

“Too long,” Magnus mumbled, pressing his face into Lance’s shoulder, “why do you need to speak to Alec?”

”It’s about the recent attack that took place in the Morgenstern home, I need to evaluate Alec’s psyche after the attack. The FBI are concerned he might not be suitable to work alongside an agent if he isn’t of a stable condition.”

”Oh,” Magnus looked to Alec who seemed to be offended by the doubt of his mental state.

“You are kidding, right?” Alec’s eyes were wide as he stared at the shorter man, “my psyche is of a perfectly reasonable stability right now, there is no concern for my mental health.”

”It’s regulation,” Lance defended himself swiftly, “I’d like to arrange a meeting with you in my office, midday tomorrow.”

“Where’s your office?” Alec replied quietly.

“Where mine was,” Luke replied, “Lance is my replacement. I’ve already moved out of the office.”

”Why didn’t you tell us?” Clary glared up at the man, “we knew you were leaving, but so soon?”

“I’m not leaving, I’m changing pathways. Dr. Sweets is a suitable replacement.”

“I don’t feel comfortable talking about my mental state with you,” Alec looked down at Dr. Sweets, “I’m perfectly fine.”

Alec scanned his ID card and rushed up the steps, leaving the others at the bottom. Lance looked over to Magnus, “I’ll keep a slot for him at midday, I imagine you’ll be sharing a bed with him tonight seeing as you’re clearly in a relationship, he may suffer nightmares after the attack, if you see anything then please do your best to send him to me, I could help him if he gives me a chance.”

Magnus nodded slowly, “okay… I’ll stay with him tonight.”

Lance smiled and then looked over to Clary, “if you need to schedule any appointments, Ms. Fray, do stop by.”

“No need, the death of my father and brother strangely pleases me,” Clary smiled to Dr. Sweets.

Lance’s stared at her, barely believing what she was saying, “you should definitely schedule an appointment.”


	7. The Lance In Brooklyn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new psychologist isn't the only transfer from the Washington.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference of the Bones characters, I'd say that for the characters this would be mid-season 6, I can't remember what happened where, but... Yeah, enjoy!!

Magnus woke up in the middle of the night when he felt Alec stirring in his sleep, he hadn’t been able to sleep easily anyway - he was oo busy thinking about what Lance had said about Alec being affected by the events. He was. He was letting out small mumbles and fidgeting as though he was trying to fight somebody’s grip.

“Alec,” Magnus placed a hand on Alec’s shoulder and shook him awake, it was easy - Alec jolted awake and sat up, “hey… You were having a nightmare.”

Alec looked down at Magnus, “I’m… I’m okay.”

“Alec, you need to go to the appointment with Lance tomorrow.”

“He wants to assess me, and if I fail his stupid test then we can’t work together anymore.”

”Alec,” Magnus placed a hand on Alec’s back, “if he doesn’t assess you, you’ll fail anyway.”

Alec let out a groan, “fine, okay. I’ll go to the stupid appointment… Is that why you came? To spy on me for the night?”

“You need comfort,” Magnus whispered, “I’ll be here for you.”

“Promise you weren’t just spying on me?”

”I promise,” Magnus smiled and leaned closer, he hesitated before gently placing a kiss on Alec’s cheek, “now let’s sleep so you’ve had a good rest before your appointment.”

Alec smiled and looked to Magnus before lying down again, “you’re going to cuddle me, by the way.”

”Of course,” Magnus laughed and wrapped his arms around Alec.

* * * * *

“How often in the last week have you had nightmares?”

Alec stared at Lance, “only last night,” he answered honestly, “that’s all… But when Magnus held me I felt far better. The nightmare went away and I dreamt about Magnus instead.”

“Ah, so would you describe him as your rock?”

”My emotional tether,” Alec nodded, “I think so.”

Lance smiled to Alec, “I guess then it would be more dangerous to take him away from you.”

”Exactly.”

”I’ll make sure that this evaluation goes well then,” Lance continued to smile and was happy to see a flicker of a smile from Alec, “I’ll have to keep an eye on you when you’re working as well,” he informed, “for a week.”

Alec leaned back, “okay, then you’ll be out of the way?”

“No, then I’ll be running your sessions with Agent Bane, the fact that you two have now decided to build a relationship… It’s very important to keep a line between relationship and work. I’ll be that line.”

“You’ll be the line between the relationship and the partnership? Magnus and I are capable of sorting out the line ourselves Dr. Sweets.”

“Well, they think it’s best that I stay here just in case, if there’s ever a unresolved argument between you two then it would be best for me to be here, tension would be unneeded in a murder case.” 

Alec fidgeted as he looked into Lance’s eyes, “okay, I suppose if it’s to keep us working together I can put up with you.”

Lance stood up from his seat with a bright smile covering his face, “well it will be a pleasure to work with you Dr. Lightwood.”

“You too, Dr. Sweets,” Alec offered his hand to the psychologist, “am I free to leave? I have a date and then a five hundred year old cadaver to investigate.”

“Yes, you’re free, I’ll be stopping by the lab at some point, don’t be too offended if I show up,” Lance responded as he shook Alec’s hand. 

“As long as you don’t get in the path of my focus,” Alec nodded. He let out a chuckle as he made his way over to the door, he waved quickly to Lance and was about to leave but instead he had somebody run into him and a string of apologies to follow.

“I’m so sorry, I should have really been paying attention but I wasn’t I was just so focused on getting to Lance, I didn’t realise he had an appointment I am so so- Oh my God, you’re Dr. Lightwood, and this is my first time meeting you, oh God,” the girl cleared her throat, “I’m Daisy Wick.”

”Daisy,” Lance choked over the nam, “what… What are you doing here? You should be in Washington.”

”Dr. Brennan has selected a few of her interns, myself, Vincent and Wendell, to come to Brooklyn for experience. She said it woud be expanding our view of the world of forensic anthropology, she may have also joked about us realising that she is in fact the best forensic anthropologist - which I am inclined to agree with, no offense Dr. Lightwood.”

”I would say Dr. Temperance Brennan and I are of equal ability,” Alec crossed his arms.

“Okay,” Lance cleared his throat, “but specifically Daisy, what are you doing here? At my office?”

“I came to inform you about myself, Vincent and Wendell, oh and to return this,” she held out a sweater, “it was a very comfortable piece of clothing but seeing as you are no longer my Lancelot, I figured you might like it back.”

“I… I forgot you had that,” Lance slowly reached out for the sweater, “uh… Are you sure you don’t want to keep it?”

“It continues to have your scent and it reminds me of us, I can’t have that if I’m trying to move on with other men.”

“You’re… You’re trying to move on?”

“Of course, I can’t let one man halt my love life, Lancey. I’m always comparing other men to you, I mean I couldn’t kiss Vincent again because his kisses weren’t as soft as yours, Wendell’s hands are too rough compared to yours. I just need to rid myself of all me-”

”And you were worried about my relationship becoming complicated.”

Lance looked over to Alec briefly before looking back at Daisy, “you’ve been with Vincent and Wendell?”

”Only kissing,” Daisy shrugged, “not that exciting, anyway I should probably get back to them. We’re actually on our way to the Institute,” she smiled to Dr. Lightwood, “would you like a ride?”

“I’m good, Magnus is waiting outside for me,” Alec nodded and looked over to Lance, “well, looks like I won’t be the only one you’re watching at the lab.”

”If you’re referring to me, I’m pretty sure Lance would be more focused on the two men that I kissed.”

Sweets frowned, “I can’t believe you hooked up with Vincent and Wendell.”

”There were others,” Daisy added, she paused when she realised the sorrow in Lance’s eyes, “I’m sorry Lance but there will be others.”

”I know,” Lance nodded, “you should go to the lab, meet the team.”

Daisy smiled to Lance quickly, “okay, I guess I’ll see you around,” Daisy quickly turned and rushed away from the office, Alec was still stood by the door, almost grinning at the psychologist.

“Well, you’re going to have a fun time, aren’t you?” He let out another chuckle, “I’ll see you soon Sweets.”

”Yeah, see you soon,” Lance replied as Alec let the door close, he let out a sigh and sat down in his chair, he knew one thing for certain - he was stupid for letting Daisy go.

* * * * * 

“Alright, come on, hit us with a mind-blowing fact about Brooklyn,” Wendell whispered to Vincent as they entered the Brooklyn Institute, Daisy was in front of the two boys - eager to scope out the place.

“You can’t just put pressure on me like this,” Vincent replied quickly, “the facts come at a time in need or stress, just as it is comicially portrayed for cartoon bunnies to excrete when they are nervous.”

“Oh the new load of interns from Washington,” a red haired girl called out as she spotted the trio, she approached them quickly, “good afternoon, I’m Clary Fray, resident forensic artist - I thought you three were meant to be arriving Saturday night?”

“Saturday Night Fever!” Vincent clapped his hands together as he turned to Wendell, “Bay Ridge, Brooklyn - that’s where John Travolta whipped out his Saturday Night Fever moves.”

Clary raised her eyebrows at the dark-haired boy, “alright…”

”Facts, he spurts out facts,” Wendell explained, “like a cartoon rabbit leaving droppings when they’re scared.”

Daisy looked back to the boys and then to Clary, “my name is Daisy Wick, this is Wendell Bray and Vincent Nigel-Murray.”

“I know, Dr. Lightwood has already filled me in with information about you three, information that was sent to him from Dr. Brennan.”

”She sent information about us?” Wendell’s curiousity kicked in, “what… What did she say?”

“Now that would be telling,” Clary tutted, “if you’d like to come with me, I’ll introduce you to other members of Dr. Lightwood’s team.”

”This is so exciting,” Wendell rubbed his hands together.

“Oh yes, you sound highly riveted right now,” Vincent commented quietly, though it was loud enough for Clary to hear. 

She let out a giggle as she looked back to the trio, “I promise they’re all very kind people. Dr. Lightwood is currently on a date so you can meet him later-”

”I’ve already met him,” Daisy raised a hand, “he’s very beautiful in person.”

Vincent covered his mouth after letting a strange squeak escape, his eyes were wide as he looked around at the other three people, “I’m just… Very excited about meeting Dr. Lightwood, did you know that Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts?”

Wendell laughed quietly at Vincent before turning to Clary again, “just like a cartoon rabbit,” he repeated. 

“I did know that, Dr. Nigel-Murray,” Clary smiled to the boy.

“Did she just call me doctor?” Vincent leaned to Wendell.

“Yes she did.”

Vincent let out a nervous laugh, “okay, fantastic. Why though? I haven’t yet got a doctorate.”

“I thought it would make you happy,” Clary scanned her card and welcomed the trio onto the platform, “this is Jace, our local flesh expert, and also kind of the boss around here.”

“Oh, the new interns?” Jace looked at the trio who all began to nod, “I guess Simon will have some competition, huh?” 

“Nonsense,” Clary tutted, “you guys are going to get along with Simon,” she smiled and looked around, “but first, this is Izzy,” she pointed as Izzy came up the steps to the platform, “the wonderful woman she is.”

“Equivalent to Dr. Hodgins,” Vincent whispered to Daisy and Wendell.

“Perhaps in science, but they’re at two different levels in my mind,” Wendell replied.

Izzy rolled her eyes, “sorry twink of the year, I’m gay and taken.” 

“So you two are official now?” Jace called out, “congratulations, it’s about time - the frequent visits to the egyptology suite were not going unnoticed.”

Clary’s cheeks slowly turned a shade of pink as she stared at Izzy, “I suppose we are official, huh?” 

Izzy nodded and examined the trio of interns, “so you’re the interns.”

”I’m Daisy Wick,” the girl grinned to Izzy, “and this is-”

”Dr. Nigel-Murray,” Vincent announced proudly, earning a look from Wendell.

”Wendell Bray.”

”Alright, Daisy, Nigel, and Wendell.”

”Wait no, my name is Vincent, Vincent Nigel-Murray,” Vincent corrected swiftly. 

“Right,” Izzy pulled a face, “you should probably introduce yourself as such to avoid confusion.”

* * * * *

Magnus smiled across the table to Alec, “so your appointment with Lance, how did it go?” He grasped his coffee cup with both hands.

“It went well, Lance is going to do his best to give me a good assessment, he doesn’t want to split us apart.”

”That’s cute.”

“His ex-girlfriend is one of the Washington interns that were sent to us, Daisy Wick. She’s a bit… Odd. I assume she may have some hyperactive disorder by the way she was speaking, if he words were in the form of a car it would be speeding.”

Magnus let out a small laugh, “I’m sure I would have heard many stories about her had Lance and I stayed in touch.” 

Alec leaned back in his seat, “is this our first date?” 

“Do you want it to be?”

”I mean… If it is, should we really be talking about Daisy and Lance?”

“You’re right,” Magnus smiled, “you’re really beautiful by the way.”

“Thanks? That was a very spontaneous comment.”

“I guess I like to be spontaneous,” Magnus shrugged, he leaned forward and rested his head on his hands, “you know, I really enjoy the calm atmosphere of a date as opposed to the stressed atmosphere of a murder mystery.”

“And there’s nobody else here to-”

“Hey,” a voice caught them off guard, they looked up to see Sweets stood at the end of their table, “can I talk to you about something?”

”How long will it take?” Alec groaned. 

Lance sat down next to Alec and looked across to Magnus, “how did you feel when Camille started dating other people?”

”I didn’t care, need I remind you of how crap that relationship was?” 

“Why am I so upset about Daisy kissing Vincent and Wendell? It was only kissing and nothing else sparked from it but… She’s tried to move on. Meanwhile here I am…”

“Interrupting dates with your angst,” Alec turned to Lance, “you’re the psychologist, sort yourself out.”

”I need somebody to talk to,” Lance pouted and looked over to Magnus, “please let me talk to you.”

“Right now?” Alec was impatient, “we’re on a date and you know we are.”

“Right, you’re right, I’m sorry,” Lance stood up again, “I’m just going to… Go sit over there instead, you guys enjoy your date,” he nodded to them and then made his way over to an empty table, Alec and Magnus watched as he sat down.

“Now I just feel bad,” Magnus watched his friend carefully.

Alec pulled a face, “go talk to him then, I’ll… I’ll finish up and then I’ll get back to the lab, five hundred year old cadaver, remember?”

“Are you okay to get to the lab by yourself?”

”I’ll call Izzy,” Alec smiled as Magnus jumped up from his seat, he moved over to Lance. Alec pressed his lips together, he couldn’t complain, he had let Magnus break off the date to talk to Sweets, but he could still hold a grudge against Sweets for ruining the date.

Alec had just finished his coffee, barely able to stand up before he heard a shout of, “Bones! We need to get to a crimescene, now!”

* * * * *

Simon frowned as he looked at Jace, “three interns, three new interns… I’ll still be your favourite, right?”

Jace let out a small chuckle, “even when it was just you, you weren’t my favourite.”

Simon gasped and held his hand to his chest, “Dr. Wayland, I am appalled and offended.” 

“Good,” Jace smiled over to the graduate, “don’t worry, Simon. I don’t think any of the holy trinity could take your place.”

“Holy trinity? Now I’m definitely offended.”

“Don’t be, you’re far cuter than any of them,” Jace whispered as he leaned over the table, “I’ve got them down in Bone Storage right now, apparently they’re doing a pretty good job.”

Simon frowned, “a better job than me?”

“No,” Jace placed a hand on Simon’s shoulder and stared at the boy for a moment, “we won’t replace you Simon, you helped us solve the Morgenstern case, you’re a genius - these kids will be going back to Dr. Brennan when the time comes, we won’t replace you.”

Simon placed his own hand over Jace’s and smiled brightly at the blond, “Jace…”

”Mm?”

”Your sectoral heterchromia is really enticing.”

“Thank you, Simon.”

Simon le out an awkward choke of laughter and ducked his head, he glanced over to the side as Jace’s hand slipped away from his shoulder, “what are they like? The holy trinity?”

”Well, there’s Daisy, a very sweet girl - apparently she used to date Dr. Sweets, the new psychologist. Then there’s Wendell, very charming, if I wasn’t already interested in y- someone I’d probably like to see a bit more of him. There’s also Vincent, very sweet, like you but with an English accent - and with many, many facts. I mean I prefer listening to you,” Jace paused and looked at Simon with wide eyes, “you’re going red…”

“What, no, no I’m definitely not,” he let out a laugh and then cleared his throat, “I should go… See the supposed holy trinity.”

Jace nodded and watched as Simon rushed away from the platform, he let a smile grow on his face, as he leaned back. He looked over his shoulder and caught sight of Dr. Sweets entering the lab in a rush.

“Agent Bane and Dr. Lightwood have been called to a crimescene, a body was found wrapped in a sheet,” he smiled up at Jace, “may I make a comment on you and Mr. Lewis?”

Jace raised an eyebrow, “go ahead.”

“There’s an obvious attraction between the two of you, perhaps even sexual tension.”

”There’s a dead body and you’re commenting on myself and Simon?”

Lance shrugged, “what else do you do when you’re waiting for a body to come to the labs?”

”Well ideally, I should head out to the body.”

”Not needed, they’re bringing the remains here,” Lance grinned, “you know, the idea of you and Mr. Lewis is actually… Kind of cute.”

”I shouldn’t get involved with the interns,” Jace made a ‘pfft’ noise

“It wouldn’t be a bad thing, as long as it was handled professionally.”

* * * * * 

Alec frowned as he looked down at the sheet, he crouched down and gently pulled the sheet away from the cadaver. He examined the corpse quickly, “male, teenager, caucasion. I’d say he’s been here for about a week - obviously not long since there’s still plenty of tissue left on this corpse. We should get it to Jace as soon as possible, he can examine the tissue. Clary will reconstruct the face and we can sort out identifying the victim.”

Magnus nodded and waved to the team, he stood up and smiled at Alec, “you never cease to amaze me.”

“Thank you,” Alec placed his hand over his stomach were his healing wound was, “sometimes I forget about this stupid injury.”

Magnus quickly put his own hand over Alec’s, “are you okay?”

”It just hits me sometimes,” Alec put on a brave smile as he looked at Magnus, “but most of the time I don’t even remember it’s there.”

Magnus held eye contact with Alec, he pressed his lips together. He really cared about Alec’s health, both physical and mental, he just hoped his partner would feel better soon - he hated knowing that at any moment Alec could be in pain, “tell me,” he whispered, “tell me if you’re ever in pain.”

“It’s not that big of a deal Magnus.”

“I want to know if you’re in pain, I care about you.”

“Obviously,” Alec let out a chuckle, “fine, I’ll let you know if I’m ever in pain.”

Magnus grinned up at the anthropologist, “thank you.”

They stood in silence for a moment, looking into each other’s eyes, Magnus moved a fraction forward but before anything else happened, Alec spoke up again, “I should get back to the lab, prepare for the body.”

“Right,” Magnus nodded.

“Yeah,” Alec cleared his throat and let a smile show on his face again, “can you give me a ride?”


	8. The Interns In The Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jace plays around with the new interns, Alec talks to Daisy about Lance, and some of the team begin to hypothesize on the new murder.

“Wow, this is possibly the nicest dead body I’ve seen,” Vincent commented as he looked down at the cadaver, “working with Dr. Brennan, I expect everyone to be vibrated to death or encased in a giant chocolate bar.”

Going off the odd looks from the Brooklyn scientists, Wendell quickly spoke up, “those did actually happen by the way.”

“Well,” Alec watched the trio cautiously, “we once had a body that was inside of a tree.”

Simon gently pushed between Wendell and Vincent, “Izzy’s examining the sheet.”

“Great, Jace will be here soon to examine the leftover tissues,” Alec crossed his arms, “Ms. Wick, may I speak to you briefly?”

”Yes, of course.”

She bounced after him and smiled brightly as they came to a stop, Alec looked down at the girl cautiously, “you and Dr. Sweets,” he began, watching as the expression on Daisy’s face changed, “how bad was the breakup?”

”It hurt, but it was a very calm breakup, why does it matter?” 

“I want to know more about you and Lance, considering he interrupted my date with Magnus with his own sorrows. Some psychologist.”

“Dr. Lightwood, I can assure you that Lance is a highly trained psychologist… Why did he interupt the date?”

“He was unsure whether he should be upset about you with Vincent and Wendell.”

”Oh,” Daisy pulled a face, she then leaned forward, “is he jealous?” Alec raised an eyebrow at the girl, she seemed to understand, “right, right, nevermind.”

“Dr. Sweets will most likely be able to get over the emotions. How close was your relationship?”

Daisy shrugged, “we were going to get married at one point.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, but I left the country with Dr. Brennan and we ended it, it was kind of sad but we’ve had time apart now.”

Alec nodded and glanced over to the platform where Jace had started to examine the body, he saw Simon, Vincent, and Wendell stood back obviously waiting in case Jace needed assistance, “you kissed Vincent Nigel- Murray and Wendell Bray?”

”After we broke up, it’s not like I cheated on Lancelot.”

Alec frowned, “I know Daisy, but I think you should have a serious talk with him because he’s… He interrupted my first date with Magnus, and if that isn’t a low blow for a psychologist then I don’t know what is.”

Daisy offered Alec a smile, “I’ll sort him out.”

“Also, I’d watch out for Mr. Nigel-Murray and Mr. Bray, Lance would probably surprisingly rip their heads off.”

Daisy eagerly nodded up at the Anthropologist, “he wouldn’t do such a thing.”

* * * * *

Magnus was explaining the body to Lance, hoping that perhaps the murder mystery would take his mind off of Daisy Wick. They were sat in Lance’s office, both on the sofa where Lance’s clients would regularly be sat. Lance was tucked in the corner of the sofa, Magnus was sat in the center of the sofa, leaning towards Lance as he spoke. 

“The body was wrapped in a sheet, like a bed sheet.”

“How was it wrapped?”

”What?”

”Was it scruffy? Or neat? I might sound odd right now, but it could help you out with the potential suspect - if it was scruffy it was most likely done in a panic, if it was neat then it was done out of respect.”

“That’s a very good point,” Magnus nodded, “I believe it was neat, so…”

”The killer would have been close to the deceased,” Lance smiled as he leaned forward, “which should narrow down your suspect list.”

“Well, the smartest best friend I could ask for.”

”Thanks,” Lance chuckled quietly, “I do try.”

Magnus cocked his head in thought, “so say this boy was killed by someone who loved him.”

“They realise what they have done and freak out, they’ll most likely show signs of guilt,” Lance leaned forward, “we need to get the identity-”

“Eager to investigate?”

”I want to compile a list of suspects, can I help interrogate?”

Magnus shrugged, “I don’t see why not.”

”Fantastic.”

* * * * * 

Clary smiled as she approached the platform, “are you done with the flesh yet Wayland?”

Jace looked up to Clary and then over his shoulder to Simon, Vincent and Wendell who were calmly waiting for instructions, “does it look like I’m done with the flesh yet?”

“Are you at least willing to give up the skull?” Clary playfully pouted to the blonde.

Jace let out a small chuckle, “yes, you can have the head.”

“Thank you, I’ll get an identity, and then the murder mystery begins. Has Izzy got any results with the sheet?”

On perfect cue, Izzy stepped up to the platform, “I can tell you that there was semen and blood on the sheet, both of which match our unidentified victim, and guess when they got onto the sheet, the same time our victim died. Looks like our victim got it on before being killed.”

“If the victim has a girlfriend, that would make her a main suspect,” Wendell spoke up, smiling as he did so, “oh man, you need to identify this guy as soon as possible.”

Clary raised an eyebrow at the man, “yeah, I’m going to do that,” Clary looked down at the skull, “but I’m going to leave you boys to detach the skull.” Vincent rushed forward to the desk, Wendell and Simon followed him, Clary smiled at the power she seemed to have over them, “you know where I’ll be.”

She moved away from the platform and could hear Izzy rushing to keep up with her, “Clary, we’re okay, right?”

“Of course.”

”I’ve just been scared you’d be mad about me seeing you as a suspect,” Izzy admitted, avoiding eye contact with Clary.

Clary let out a laugh, “Izzy, come on, we’re basically crime solvers, having a list of suspects is part of our job. I had wished Sebastian dead, of course I’d be a suspect.”

“But you probably would have known the secrets to the perfect murder.”

“I could have been bluffing,” Clary tapped her nose, she looked into Alec’s office as they passed, “why is Alec speaking to Daisy?”

”He didn’t appreciate Lance interupting his first date with Magnus with his woes about Daisy kissing Vincent and Wendell.”

Izzy’s eyes were wide, she moved closer to Clary in an instant, “Daisy kissed Vincent and Wendell?”

“Yeah, Lance is having a hard time coping with the thought of it.”

“I have a feeling only one intern will be going back to Washington alive,” Izzy chuckled.

They walked into Clary’s room where Clary was ready for the skull of the victim to arrive, “I can’t believe that you couldn’t match this guy’s DNA, I’ll have to search through the missing persons database once I reconstruct his face.”

A moment later, Vincent rushed through the door holding the skyll in gloved hands, “Ms. Fray, I have your skull.”

”Thank you Vincent,” Clary walked to him and took the skull out of his grip, she walked over to a desk and began a scan.

”Did you know that the human skull has the same density as a watermelon?”

Izzy looked up to Vincent, “yeah, hence whenever there’s evidence of head trauma, we test out possible weapons on watermelons.”

Vincent nodded slowly, “right, well how about-”

”Perhaps you should get back to the platform,” Izzy whispered to him, “let Clary focus.”

”Right.”

* * * * * 

Once Vincent returned, Jace decided to send both Vincent and Wendell on a pointless mission - to find as many cleaning products as usual. He didn’t need them at all, he just wanted a moment with Simon. Once the two Washington boys had rushed off, Jace turned to Simon.

“I’m going to be honest with you Simon, I don’t need any cleaning products.”

”I know,” he nodded, “who uses random cleaning products to clean a corpse, but you were very convincing. Why did you lie to them?”

”I wanted to… Be with you, just you for a moment.”

”Oh, really?”

“Yes,” Jace nodded, he let out a nervous sigh, “I know you’re an intern,” he began slowly and quietly, “but I like you, a lot.”

“And examining the decaying flesh of a corpse reminded you of that?”

Jace let out a laugh, “yeah, not so romantic really.”

Simon shook his head as he joined in with Jace’s laughter, “no not really. I like you too, Jace. I thought it was just going to be a nervous school boy type of crush.”

“It wouldn’t be so wrong,” Jace whispered, “I mean, if we were…”

“Can we?”

”I don’t see why not,” the two men went momentarily silent, gaxing into each other’s eyes as though they were in some sickening romance film. 

“Tomorrow,” Simon eventually spoke, “me and you, at my place? I cook the bes-”

He stopped as Wendell and Vincent arrived with bottles of various cleaning products in their arms, “I don’t understand why you need these,” Wendell began, “but Dr. Hodgins would always ask for even stranger things so I’m not opposed.”

Jace gave a fake smile as he looked at the two Washington interns, “oh I was testing you, to see if you’d question my orders. Congratulations, you passed.”

Vincent and Wendell stared, a beat later Vincent comically dropped all the cleaning supplies in disbelief, he looked at Wendell who was giving him a look of curiosity. Vincent then hit the bottles that Wendell was holding, making the blond drop all of the bottles as well. Simon and Jace tried to hide their laughter, but after a moment, even Vincent and Wendell began to laugh.

“I left a post-it note and everything,” Wendell spoke through his laughter.

“I’m going to enjoy having you lot here,” Jace admitted, “I like your humour.”

“Really?” Vincent presented a bright grin.

“Yeah,” Jace smiled, “now clean those up and take them back to where you found them.”

As Vincent and Wendell followed the orders once again, Jace turned to Simon, “I’ll be there.”

”Awesome,” Simon tried to hide his grin but it was near impossible.

* * * * *

Alec sent Daisy back to the platform to work with Jace and the boys, he then made his way to Clary’s room where Clary was swiftly working up a face for the body. Alec smiled as he watched the redhead at work, his sister was stood by her watching in awe. 

Alec stopped by Clary’s side, “how’s it coming along?”

”Just a few more details,” Clary whispered and swiped her hand across the tablet as she stared up at the screen. It only took a few more moments, “there it is,” she looked over to Alec, “I’ll see if there’s any matches in missing persons.”

Alec nodded and crossed his arms, he watched the screen as Clary waited for a match. It idn’t take long.

“We’ve got a match. Lucas Palmer,” Clary read the name, “missing two weeks ago, he was seventeen.”

“I’ll let Magnus know,” Alec spoke gently, he placed a hand on Clary’s shoulder, “thank you.”

Clary briefly similed up to Alec, but she let the smile fall a second later, “this kid didn’t even get to graduate high school.”

Alec gave a sympathetic nod, “I know Clary, I’m sorry,” he urned and rushed out of the room, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he walked, he dialled Magnus’s number and the phone was answered almost instantly, “hey Magnus, we’ve got an identity, Lucas Palmer - reported missing two weeks ago.”

“We’ll contact his parents,” Magnus replied quickly, “thank you Alec.”

”Don’t thank me, it’s our job.”

Magnus let out a small chuckle, “I’ll see you soon sweetie.”

“See you,” Alec replied quietly, smiling to himself as he thought about the nickname Magnus had just used. He placed the phone in his pocket and looked up to see Jace walking over from the platform.

“The cadaver is all yours, Lightwood. You might want to hurry before those four do all the work for you.”

Alec smiled to Jace, “thank you.”

“Have fun.”

”My job is always fun, Dr. Wayland.”

Jace flashed a smile and patted Alec on the back, “they’re very very eager.”

Alec nodded and made his way onto the platform where the four interns were all examining the body, “there’s a contusion to the frontal bone, definitely not enough to cause death,” Simon whispered, “more like a simple bump to the head,” Alec raised an eyebrow at Simon as he spoke, “there’s also stress to the clavicle and the right radius and ulna.”

Alec frowed and cocked his head, “what do you think that suggests?” 

“Our victim was restrained by their right wrist, and pushed down on his on back like so,” Simon gently placed his hand over the clavicle, “this suggests that the the victim was most likely forced into sex.”

* * * * *

Magnus approached the house with caution, he had told many families in the past about a deceased relative, but it didn’t make it easier. Lance was with him since they were together at the time Magnus had been able to trace the family home, and having the psychologist on hand wasn’t a bad option.

Magnus knocked on the door and turned to Sweets as the Psychologist began to speak, “you said he lives alone with his father?”

“His mother died a few months ago.”

Lance sighed, “that just makes it all harder. To lose a wife and a son in the same year is going to-”

The door opened and Lance and Magnus turned to the doorway, offering sympathetic smiles.

“Hello?” The man looked down at them, he was a big man, the type that was probably capable of pushing down a tree with one try.

“Hello, are you Julian Palmer?”

”I am, what is this about?”

”FBI special agent Bane, and this is my associate Dr. Sweets,” Magnus held up his badge, “it’s about your son, Lucas.”

”Lucas? Have you found him? Is he okay?”

“Mr. Palmer, can we come in?” Lance asked, he was no longer smiling as he looked at the man.

“Please tell me he’s okay,” the man whispered as he welcomed the two men into his house.

Magnus and Lance followed the man into a living room area where the man took a seat, “Mr. Palmer-”

“He’s… he’s not okay, is he?” The man looked down at the floor, his voice shaking as he spoke, “is he hurt?”

Magnus pressed his lips together before speaking, “I’m so sorry, your son’s body was found buried. Obviously, we suspect murder.”

“No, no, no, no,” the man shook his head and covered his eyes, “this isn’t happening, my boy can’t be dead.”

”I’m so sorry Mr. Palmer,” Lance placed a hand on the man’s arm, “we need to know, is there anyone that would want to hurt your son?”

”What? No, no, everybody loved Lucas.”

Lance cleared his throat, “well, going to the opposite side of things, does he have a girlfriend?”

The man laughed softly, “no, no. He used to date this girl Kara but they broke up, that was the only time I had hope for my son’s love life,” he let out another playful laugh, “and now… Now he doesn’t have another chance.”

“We need Kara’s full name,” Magnus requested.

“Kara McLennon,” the man answered, “you… You think she did it?”

”We believe that the victim had sex before they died, of course that makes the ex-girlfriend the main suspect.”

“Ex-girlfriend… Lucas wouldn’t have sex with her, trust me.”

”Sometimes paternal love isn’t enough to know the actions of your son,” Lance stood up.

“We’ll be in touch soon, Mr. Palmer,” Magnus smiled to the man before he and Lance left the house, “he sounded so sure about his son not having sex.”

”What if he didn’t want to, what if Kara forced him into it?”

”It’s possible.”

“I guess we better find Kara then.”

* * * * *

“He was a Straight A student,” Clary turned to Jace, “never got into any trouble at school, he even volunteered for several local charities. This kid was basically a teen angel. Who would want to kill him?”

“Obviously someone didn’t enjoy the Goody Two Shoes,” Jace scoffed, “that’s the only motive I can think of.”

Clary rolled her eyes, “enough to murder?”

Jace looked around as Alec entered the room, “Magnus and Lance are going to talk to the victim’s ex-girlfriend.”

“A rough break up,” Jace nodded, “even better motive.”

Clary shook her head, “no way this kind of kid would have a bad break up, as I said - he was an angel.”

“Everybody has a secret, perhaps he wasn’t always an angel.”

Clary frowned at Dr. Lightwood, “I refuse to believe that.”

Alec crossed his arms as he looked up at the screen, “Magnus said Lucas’s father was insistant that Lucas wouldn’t have sex with Kara.”

“She could have forced him into it,” Jace offered, “there’s been cases before where a girl has raped her ex so that she could become pregnant and the boy would have no choice but to stay.”

“If that was the case, why would she then kill him?” Clary raised an eyebrow to Jace.


	9. The Secrets In The Trio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Lance look into some suspects, meanwhile at the lab Alec and the interns continue to investigate the body.

Magnus and Lance sat across the table from Kara, the girl was looking between them, it was clear that she was somewhat scared. Lance examined her carefully, she had long hair that was dyed a vibrant blue - a girl that like to stand out. 

“Why am I here?”

“We have been told that you experienced a romantic relationship with Lucas Palmer.”

There was a split second moment of panic in the girl’s eyes, eventually she gave a hesitant nod, “y-yeah… I…”

”But you broke up.”

”Yes.”

”So how did that affect you?” Lance leaned forward as he spoke, “perhaps you were angry that he decided to break up with you? You wanted revenge?” 

The girl pulled a face, “no… No that’s not it at all.”

“Well the evidence suggests that the victim had sexual intercourse before he died, and injuries suggest that it was forced.”

”I would never hurt Lucas, he was my best friend!”

Lance fell back in his seat and cocked his head, “best friend… That’s a completely different term to boyfriend, so what is it? What were you to him?”

Kara looked into Lance’s eyes and then placed her hands on her forehead, “I… I was his beard.”

”His beard?” Magnus raised an eyebrow.

“A beard is a social term for a girl pretending to be the gi-”

”I know what a beard is, Lance,” Magnus looked at the psychologist, “what you’re telling us, is that our victim was gay?”

“Yes…”

“Doesn’t that give half the world a motive for murder,” Lance turned to Magnus, “it’s possible that the murder was out of pure ignorance.”

Magnus nodded, he looked to Kara again, “or you were upset that he was never really going to love you.”

”That’s not true!” She hissed, “just ask Isaac! He’ll tell you how much I valued my friendship with Lucas more than anything else in the world.”

“Isaac?”

“Isaac Langford,” Kara sighed, “those two were closer than anybody else, trust me.”

“How close?”

“I’d prefer to let him answer that,” Kara whispered, “it’s his place to say, not mine.”

The two men looked at each other and then back to the girl, Lance nodded slowly, “I think I’m already beginning to get an idea.”

* * * * *

“There’s incisions on both the fifth and sixth rib,” Wendell commented as he looked at the bones, he looked up, “I believe the victim was stabbed twice, the incision to the sixth rib is slightly wider suggesting a different weapon or that the weapon was in fact… shifted whilst in the victim.”

"Did you know,” the group turned to Vincent who was obviously about to being listing another fact, “that in Florida, a prison guard was killed by a spoon that had been sharpened, the murderer was later executed.”

“And your point is?” Alec looked at the boy curiously.

“Right, the angle of the incisions suggests that the killer did, in fact, attack the victim from behind… Whilst they were lying down in a spooning position… So in some way the fact was linked bu-”

“The victim was spooning when they were killed?” Daisy’s eyebrows shot up, “so the killer would be someone he felt close to. That’s so heartbreaking.”

“Stabbed in the back by one you love,” Vincent tutted.

“The victim wasn’t stabbed in the back,” Alec pulled a face at Vincent, “why would you even say that when you just confirmed that th-”

”It was a figure of speech, Dr. Lightwood,” Vincent commented nervously, “my apologies.”

Alec nodded and looked at the body, “there’s a contusion on the skull, do you have an idea of what caused it?”

”None for the time being,” Vincent frowned, “it’s not exactly consistent with the other injuries.”

Simon looked at he fracture to the skull and frowned, “perimortum... Not enough to cause serious head trauma…”

“Mr. Nigel-Murray, Mr. Bray,” Alec looked to the two male interns from Washington, “can you two figure out possible scenarios for the murder, Ms. Wick, Mr. Lewis and I will continue to examine the bones.”

Vincent nodded and flashed a smile, “this is the part that I love to do at the Jeffersonium. Dr. Hodgins and I always experiment to-”

”Come on, Vino Delectable,” Wendell grabbed Vincent’s labcoat by the collar and pulled him off of the platform. 

“I know I never told you about that, who told you? Was it Cam? Or was it Angela when you and her had a fling going on?” Vincent questioned as the blond pulled him along.

“Angela,” Wendell answered, “she found it hilarious.”

Vincent looked back to the platform, “where would be best to replicate the scene?”

”The victim was killed in bed, right?”

“The bed sheet and the spooning would suggest so.”

”Then we’re going to find a bed.”

“Oh,” Vincent nodded, he paused for a moment, “ _oh!_ ”

“Clary and Isabelle made frequent visits to the Egyptology suite, you know why? Because there’s a bed there.”

Vincent nodded, “so one of us is going to roleplay as the victim whilst one of us roleplays as the killer?”

”Yes.”

“I’m surprised Dr. Lightwood didn’t decide to send Daisy instead of one of us. I mean the killer is female, right?”

“Not necessarily, somebody could have forced themselves upon the victim, and then killed him, perhaps the head injury knocked him out and then the killer stabbed him.”

Vincent hummed, “I can tell this will be a fun experiment.”

“It’s more of a roleplay,” Wendell whispered, and then let ou a quick laugh as he finally let go of Vincent’s shirt, “and who doesn’t like a good bit of roleplay.”

”I’m much more versed with roleplaying games than I am with sexually stimulating roleplay, of course I imagine you would be the opposite.”

”You think I’ve sexually roleplayed before?”

Vincent nodded, “perhaps as a fireman? Or a policeman! Or-”

Wendell let out a sigh as they turned a corner, “pizza boy.”

Vincent’s eyes widened and he began to laugh, “you’ve sexually roleplayed as a pizza boy? That’s hilarious, it wasn’t with Angela, was it?”

”Oh God no. It was with an old ex, she just… really liked pizza.”

”More than she liked you?”

”Apparently.”

“That’s ridiculous, if she cared about her health at all, you are far healthier than any pizza could be.”

Wendell smiled as they came to a stop, “here we are, Egyptology! Let’s find that bed.”

”Are you absolutely certain there’s a bed in here? Perhaps Izzy and Clary like to do it on the floor, or up against the wall.”

Wendell let out a laugh, “please, they are definitely bed people.”

Vincent joined in the laughter eventually, he covered his mouth as he looked at the blond, then he let out a sigh, “Dr. Brennan would never send us away to simulate a crime scene involving sex.”

”No, she’d push us into position herself.”

* * * * * 

Magnus and Lance had tracked down Isaac to where he worked part-time, they found themselves outside the building soon enough. Lance looked over to Magnus, “it woudn’t surprise me if Kara has already messaged Isaac about Lucas, it would be heartbreaking for both of them and she’d look for somebody to cry to.”

”If he found out that his best friend was dead, he most likely wouldn’t be at his part-time job,” Magnus sighed, “let’s just hope he doesn’t know yet.”

Lance nodded, the pair took a brief moment before entering the building, it was a small bakery. There was a tall boy with dark curly hair stood behind the counter, smiling as he spoke to somebody from the backroom, he turned to face the two men and greeted them kindly, “good afternoon, what would you like?”

“Are you Isaac?” Magnus asked him.

The boy chuckled and pointed to his namebadge, “what do you think?”

”Right, well, I’m FBI special agent Magnus Bane, this here is my associate Dr. Sweets, we’d like to have a few words.”

”I… I’m not in trouble am I?”

”It’s about Lucas Palmer.”

”Lucas,” the boy whispered, he looked down momentarily and then shot back up again, “you haven’t found him yet?”

”Is there someone that could cover for you whilst we talk?” Lance offered in a sweet tone.

“I…” The boy looked around, “Dana, would you be able to cover for me? It’s about Lucas,” the girl replied with a nod so Lucas quickly pulled off his apron and rushed around the counter, “we can sit at one of the tables, if that’s okay.”

”That would be perfect,” Magnus nodded to the boy, he wondered how hard he was going to take it when they told him, he looked to Lance briefly who was clearly thinking the same thing. As they sat down, Magnus tried to speak but he was cut off by the ring of the bell above the door and a shrill voice.

“Isaac!” A woman called, “aren’t you supposed to be working right now?”

”Well, yeah, but they’re here to talk about Lucas.”

The mother rolled her eyes, “fantastic timing then,” she sat down in the seat next to Isaac, “I’m a lawyer, so I’ll be representing my son.”

The boy seemed slightly startled by his mother but he loosened up after a moment, “so… What would you like to know?”

”What was your relationship with Lucas?”

”Relationship?” The boy repeated, “I didn’t have a relationship, I’m straight, Lucas and Kara came up with this elaborate story that him and I were a thing but that’s not re-”

”That wasn’t the question,” Lance stopped the boy, “we were asking you what your relationship was, was it strictly platonic?”

”Yes,” the boy nodded, “why are you saying was?”

”Lucas Palmer’s body was found.”

The boy’s expression dropped, he covered his mouth, “L-Lucas? No, it can’t be him, he can’t be dead!”

”He is,” Magnus whispered, “I’m sorry, Isaac.”

Isaac closed his eyes and shook his head, he took slow breaths. Lance briefly looked to the mother who had a sympathetic look on her face, she let out a sigh, “I can’t believe it… Lucas was such a good boy.”

“Yes,” Lance nodded, “he was, which makes us ask why somebody would murder him.”

”Murder?” Isaac’s breath hitched, “that doesn’t… That doesn’t make sense. Nobody would...”

“We have forensic evidence.”

Isaac hid his face and began to quietly sob, his mother turned to him.

”Oh come on boy, you’re at work remember.”

”Mom, Lucas is dead, I can’t just be happy!”

The mother rolled her eyes.

“So, you said you and Lucas are not in fact, in any way involved with each other?”

”Of course he wasn’t,” the mother tutted out before her son could speak, “my son is not gay.”

“Ma’am, if you could let your son answer,” Lance turned to the mother, knowing she would take the comment harshly, but he was willing to let that happen - he knew he didn’t like that woman.

”I was not in any way romantically involved with him,” Isaac whispered, “I don’t know why Kara gave you the idea that I was.”

”You need to control your girlfriend,” his mother quickly commented.

Lance and Magnus stared a the mother and the boy, “Kara’s your girlfriend?”

”Yes…”

“She didn’t tell us that,” Lance whispered to Magnus, “it’s entirely possible, if Lucas wanted to make a move on Isaac, she might… Get angry, jealous.”

”We’ll have to get her back in the interrogation room then,” Magnus sighed, “thank you for your time Isaac.”

* * * * *

Clary scanned her ID card and made her way onto the platform, she pulled a face as she watched Simon and Daisy cleaning the bones of any remaining tissue.

”Disgusting,” she whispered, “Alec,” she called over to the forensic anthropologist who was leaning back against a table staring into space, “hey! Earth to Dr. Lightwood!”

His attention snapped to her, “hm?”

”Are you alright?”

He shrugged, “he was stabbed twice, the second time there was movement in the blade it just… Reminds me of…”

Clary reached forward and grabbed Alec’s hand, “hey, it’s okay, he’s gone now.”

“I know, but I really thought I was going to die.”

Clary smiled up to the man, “but you’re here now, Dr. Lightwood. You’re alive, you’re well, and you’re here.”

Finally, she made a smile appear on his face, “yeah…”

”And you’re going on dates with a very hot FBI agent.”

Alec hummed, “you’re right.”

“So put a great big smile on your face, because you’re not on that table.”

Alec laughed quietly, Clary knew what to say, “I swear, if I ever come close to death again…”

”We won’t let that happen Alec, I promise we won’t. We’ll always be here.”

”Really,” Alec let out a brief laugh, “because Luke left us.”

“He said he’s going to come back.”

”That doesn’t really change anything, he left us. And now we’ve got a bunch of twelve year olds from Washington, and a new psychologist who likes to interupt dates. Luke never interrupted dates.”

”You’re really bitter about that, aren’t you?”

Alec nodded, “yeah, you try having a psychologist interrupt your first date. I’ve asked Daisy to talk to him, sort out the entire thing, because I am not going to have a brokenhearted miserable psychologist talk to me about my issues when he’s crying because his ex-girlfriend kissed two other boys.”

Clary shrugged, “fair enough, that would make me upset too.”

Alec was grinning again, “thank you!”

Magnus returned to the lab with the psychologist behind him, they stayed at the bottom of the steps, “is there any other DNA on the body at all? Or on the sheet?”

”Izzy has some hairs,” Clary answered.

“Is there any long dyed blue hairs?” Sweets asked, gesturing to his hair with his hands, “because Ka-”

Clary stared at him, “there’s short curly dark hairs,” she stood in silence.

Lance looked up in confusion, “we haven’t spoken to anybody with short, curly hair.”

Isabelle scanned her card and moved past the men up onto the platform, “Sweets, do you shave?” She turned back to the men.

Sweets ran his hand over his chin, “well, yeah, obviously…”

Isabelle raised an eyebrow, she looked over to Daisy, “Daisy how intimate have you been with Sweets in the past?”

”Fairly intimate,” Daisy replied with a smile.

“Was it like a jungle down there? Or smooth like a baby’s butt?”

Daisy’s eyes were remarkably wide, “wh-what? You mean-”

”Does he know what pubic hair is?”

“Of course I know what a pubic hair is,” Lance answered for himself, he then looked at Izzy and the realisation was clear on his face, “oh, so the hair was a pubic hair, why didn’t you just say that?” When nobody answered he continued to ask questions, “did it belong to the victim?”

”No, the victim was a shaver,” Izzy commented, “not a hair to be found down there.”

“Can you get any DNA from the hair?”

”If I have DNA to match it to, or you could just ask your suspects if they shave down there.”

Lance was astounded by her, but when she began to laugh he knew she was joking - thank God. He smiled as he began to join in the laughter, “alright, funny. Well we’ll ask for DNA samples and if they refuse, we’ll have to pull the glass of water trick, won’t we?” 

“He’s a damn professional,” Izzy rolled her eyes and looked at the psychologist, “you get that done and bring it to me.”

“Of course.”

* * * * *

They were in the interrogation room once again with Kara, who now looked more annoyed than anything else, she had her arms and legs crossed. 

“I don’t get a split second to grieve for my best friend because you guys are so hooked on questioning me,” she spat at them, “it’s ridiculous.”

”You didn’t tell us that Isaac was your boyfriend,” Magnus looked at the girl, “and Lucas had a crush on Isaac, right?”

”Oh my God, is that what Isaac told you?” She shook her head, “God damn it. Wait, let me guess - you wanted to ask him questions, but his stiff upper lip mom was breathing down his neck the entire time?”

”How’d you know that?” Lance questioned the girl.

“Because that’s the only reason he’d pull that lie,” she let out a laugh, “God, his mother is the worst of the worst and you’re never going to get the truth from him if she’s around. After all, if your mother was a homophobic bitch, would you tell two strangers who claim to be FBI about your forbidden love affair with another boy?”

Magnus and Lance raised an eyebrow, comically in sync, “well,” Lance turned to Magnus, “this is a massive circle.”

“Looks like we’re talking to Isaac again,” Magnus let out a loud sigh as he leaned back in his chair. 

Kara sat up straight, “so if that’s the case, does that mean I’m free to go?”

Lance examined the girl quickly, he leaned forward, “do you have a boyfriend at all? That is neither Lucas or Isaac?”

”No.”

”Girlfriend?”

”No. This information isn’t even relevant.”

”Actually, it is,” Lance insisted, “may we take a DNA sample?”

”Sure,” the girl complied, Lance pulled a face to Magnus - it was an impressed expression, the girl easily went along with them, not the regular approach of a guilty person.


	10. The Crack In The Case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things take an unseen turn when the Lucas Palmer case is closed.

“DNA sample,” Lance held out the swab for Izzy, “although I don’t think it’ll be a match.”

Magnus turned to Lance, “really? Just because she agreed to do it, doesn’t mean she’s necessarily innocent, she might just be confident.”

”I don’t think that the hair is hers,” he shrugged, “the roots of her hair were a natural light blonde, and on top of that, she shaves her armpits, and her legs, and even her arms. I believe she may also shave… There.”

Izzy cocked her head in amusement, “there? Go on Dr. Sweets, say it.”

“Her.. You know.”

”I don’t know.”

”Yes you do know.”

”No… I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

”Her area.”

”What area?”

”Hey, come on, y-you know what I’m talking about.”

“No, Dr. Sweets, I have no idea.”

“Her… Her… Coochie?”

Izzy paused and began laughing, “oh my God, how precious. Well, Dr. Sweets, the girl might like to present herself well, shave her armpits, her legs, her arms, but her , _coochie_ isn’t exactly going to be on display.”

“No, if she cared enough about her appearence to shave her arms, she wouldn’t have let her roots grow out as far as they would.”

Magnus smiled brightly at Lance, “so because she shaves her arms, you think she’s innocent.”

”Yes, and besides - somebody else was around when Lucas was… Sexually involved, if he was gay, then he definitely wouldn’t have done it with Kara.”

“But, Kara said that Lucas and Isaac were involved,” Magnus smiled to Lance, “so… Isaac is the killer?”

”I don’t know, he seemed really distraught but, I don’t know if his grief was genuine, I mean sometimes the killer is upset, but that’s just them realising their actions.”

“I hate how this case is one big circle.”

”Aren’t they always,” Izzy commented, “so now you think it’s Isaac again?”

”I think Isaac was there,” Sweets answered, crossing his arms as he thought, “but he could have left before the murder took place.”

“Or he could be the murderer.”

“Or that.”

* * * * *

Alec rushed to stop Magnus before he left the labs, he grabbed the agent’s hand and turned him around, “hey, when this case is over… Do you want to try going on another date? Perhaps without being interrupted this time.”

“Sorry,” Lance held up his hand as an apology, “I won’t let it happen again.”

”Oh, won’t you?” Alec narrowed his eyes at the psychologist, “man, I can really take your word for it.”

“I’m sorry,” Lance repeated, “look I’ll make it up to you, how about you guys go on a date and I give you the money to pay for dinner?”

Alec raised an eyebrow to the psychologist, “uh…”

”I mean it, I will.”

“You don’t-”

”Alec,” Magnus interrupted him, “sorry but we need to go, suspects to question.”

“Right, but we can go on another date?”

”Uh, sure, yeah, we’ll see about it,” Magnus smiled and then rushed off, Sweets paused for a moment to look at Alec. He then nodded and rushed after Magnus. Alec was amazed, he turned around and saw Clary and Izzy both looking at him from the platform.

“Wow,” Izzy commented, “it was like you were suddenly invisible to him.”

Alec frowned, he crossed his arms. He was silent for a moment, “I bet it’s to do with Sweets,” he looked up to the platform where Daisy and Simon were, “Ms. Wick!” She looked up from the table to Alec, “your ex is disrupting my lovelife, please sort him out.”

“Yes sir, I will when I can.”

“Thank you,” he smiled to her and then looked to Izzy, “I’ll get it sorted out.”

Alec scanned his card and rushed onto the platform, he looked at the remains carefully. Simon glanced up to Alec, “Dr. Lightwood, I may not be the wisest with Dr. Sweets but I don’t think he’d conciously put a wedge between you and Magnus.”

“It’s true,” Daisy added, “Lancelot is not like that, he’s actually working to get Dr. Brennan and Booth together, he builds relationships, he doesn’t break them.”

Alec shrugged, “he may not be doing it on purpose, but it’s still bugging me.”

“Perhaps it’s just the case,” Daisy offered, “by the sounds of things they’re going in a circle with Kara and Isaac. He could be playing with the idea of the case in his head, trying to figure out the killer.”

Alec frowned at the girl, “so if I figure out the killer, he’ll be back to normal.”

Daisy nodded, “most probably.”

Alec let a small smile show up on his face, he nodded, “then let’s get it figured out, have Mr. Nigel-Murray and Mr. Bray returned yet?”

Daisy and Simon glanced to each other and then shook their heads to Alec.

* * * * *

In the egyptology suite, Vincent and Wendell managed to find a bed. Vincent had sat down on it to begin with, he intiated conversation of their life in Washington whilst Wendell looked at the bed curiously. It started out like that, until Vincent’s comment on sexuality popped up.

“It’s weird, because here, pretty much everyone is gay, bisexual, or even pansexual. In Washington, the only member of our team that was openly a sexuality other than heterosexual was Angela, it was as though… Like only one person being out affected me and made me keep myself closed off. I never told anybody that I was bisexual, it felt like we had to have the one token non-heterosexual in that team.”

”Woah there British boy,” Wendell turned suddenly and sat down, “did you just come out to me?”

”Well, yes, kind of… I did didn’t I.”

“You did,” Wendell laughed, “I’ve often wondered about the way I see guys, I can see somebody and think… They’re… Amazing.”

”Like Angela,” Vincent commented, he let out a chuckle. He looked into Wendell’s eyes, “why are you looking at me like that? Directly in my eyes?”

”You have nice eyes.”

“Thank you,” Vincent smiled and then looked away, only looking back when he noticed the other man moving closer. He couldn’t get in another word before he felt Wendell’s lips against his own. It was odd at first, he hadn’t kissed anybody in a while. It was happening quickly, but he still knew it was happening, and he knew that he kind of liked it.

It started like that, it was slow, and enjoyable. Vincent didn’t know at what point things changed but somehow he was lying down on the bed with Wendell above him. Wendell’s shirt was on the floor, and Vincent wasn’t opposed to seeing the blond like this, or even feeling him. Time flew by, and before Vincent knew it they were wearing even less, only in their underwear. He lost count of the kisses a long time ago, and he was dissapointed when Wendell pushed himself up and away from Vincent suddenly.

”Oh God, you regret kissing me, don’t you?”

”No, no, it’s just,” he placed his hand on the headboard of the bed, “thinking about it, if the victim was in a similar position to this when getting it on, he could have probably hit his head on the headboard causing the contusion to his frontal bone.”

Vincent looked up to the headboard and frowned, “you’re right, he was most likely in a similar position to you but… He wasn’t on top,” he smiled to Wendell, “on his knees and hand, one hand held back and a force of another person knocks him to hit his head on the headboard.”

”Oh, going at it doggy style,” Wendell raised his eyebrows.

”Common position among gay males,” Vincent smiled, in the next moment Wendell was stood up, pulling his clothes on.

”Fantastic,” he whispered, “got it all figured out,” once he had his clothes on he rushed away, leaving Vincent on the bed alone. Vincent sat up, looking in the direction of Wendell’s exit. He didn’t move however, he just thought about the previous moments, how fast everything moved. It didn’t last long at all.

* * * * * 

“The contusion to the head was caused by a bump to the headboard of the bed, the sex position was doggy style, he was most definitely having sex with another male. Or a female with a strap-on.”

Alec glared at Wendell with wide eyes, “uh… Okay, thank you Mr. Bray, Dr. Sweets and Bane have already figured that part out. Where exactly is Mr. Nigel Murray?”

Wendell glanced around and let out a ‘huh’ noise, “I thought he was following me.”

“Right,” Alec shook his head, “continue to examined the bones with Ms. Wick, and Mr. Lewis. I’m going to go to the interrogation rooms and assist with the questioning.”

Clary smiled at Alec, “does Magnus know that?”

”No, but I’m a necessary asset to the questioning. I know things about the human body that no psychology major would know. He might be able to judge their words by their body movements, but I can do better.”

“It’s not a competition, Dr. Lightwood,” Daisy commented from the table, Simon and Wendell both looked at her, and she quickly realised the mistake in her town, “well, I mean… Maybe you could work with Lance instead of against him?”

”Maybe,” Alec looked around, “call me if you find anything else, I trust you lot with this. Oh, and if Mr. Nigel-Murray returns, get him to help Izzy out.”

“Yes, Dr. Lightwood.”

As Alec left Daisy turned to Wendell and cocked her head, “your hair is totally messy right now, Wendell.”

“Hmm, yeah.”

”And your shirt is untucked,” she crossed her arms, “plus the third button down isn’t in the hole properly, you going to tell us why?”

”No, no I’m not going to tell you why, because there’s no reason for me to tell you.”

”Where’s Vincent?”

”I don’t know.”

”Wendell!”

”I’m here, I’m here, sorry,” Vincent rushed up to the platform, jumping when the alarm sounded, he rushed back to scan his temporary badge and then smiled as he came to a stop at the edge of the table.

Daisy briefly looked him up and down, then turned to Wendell, “wow, I can’t believe you two came to work with the same hairstyle.”

“Wh-what?” Vincent looked up a Wendell and then over to Daisy, he quickly ran his hands through his hair, “well uh…”

“Dr. Lightwood wants you to assist Izzy,” Simon informed him suddenly, “I don’t know why…”

“Vincent was a regular assistant to Dr. Hodgins, so since Izzy is the Brooklyn equivalent… Perhaps that’s why,” Daisy shrugged, smiling brightly to Simon and then turned to Vincent again, “see you in a bit Vincent.”

”Right,” Vincent nodded, “see you guys soon then,” he flashed a smile and rushed away from the other interns and the platform. 

Daisy crossed her arms and glared at Wendell, “I’m watching you Bray.”

”Yeah, I can see that, but you should probably be watching the bones.”

”Better than watching them bone,” Simon mumbled as he leaned closer to the bones, he looked up eventually when he noticed the silence, “oh come on, we all know what happened.”

”We didn’t have sex,” Wendell whispered to the two younger interns, “we were just doing as asked, figuring out possibilites for the contusion. If the headboard on his bed matches the shape and pattern of the contusion, the murder scene would be his own bed.”

“Good shout,” Simon mumbled, “they’re speaking to this kid called Isaac, apparently he had a more than platonic relationship with Lucas. Bets are that he’s the one who slept with him, now they just need to find out what happened after the sex.”

Wendell frowned, “okay so the angle of the incision suggests the victim was sleeping on his left, and the attack was from someone at the same level. Vincent was right about the spooning. The killer would have been spooning the victim at the time.”

”Regular after sex cuddling position,” Daisy looked at Wendell, “why are we still looking at the bones? All we need is to prove that Isaac and Lucas had sex, then it’s absolutely evident that Isaac is the killer!”

“It’s disgusting,” Wendell commented.

“Didn’t expect that so soon after you were close with Vincent,” Simon shot up in defense, “are you genuinely te-”

”I mean the murder, if they were having sex and spooning, Lucas was clearly fond of him, then he stabs him. It’s disgusting.”

Simon nodded, “some people have twisted minds.”

* * * * *

Magnus was surprised to see Alec standing outside the interrogation room when they arrived with Isaac, Magnus instructed Sweets to take the boy into the room and sit him down. As Lance did so, Magnus stopped by Alec.

“What are you doing here? You should be at the lab.”

”No, I’m not needed there, we’ve found cause of death, Izzy’s still checking the sheet. I’m also pretty sure that the boy in there is the boy who murdered Lucas, all evidence points to him. The victim was killed shortly after sex, doggy style to be precise - I sent Wendell and Vincent to figure that out even though I already knew it. In fact they’re still in the lab, thinking they can find more. The truth is, I already know basically everything and I know that that boy in there is the killer. Let me help with the interrogation.”

”Alec…”

“Magnus please, I can help with this. I’m excellent at this, I can tell just from looking at somebody that they injured themselves at some point in their life. Let me help, let me sit in there with Sweets and we’ll get the truth.”

”With Sweets?” Magnus hesitated, he looked past Alec as Sweets came back through the door.

“Hey,” he smiled to both of the men, “so, good news, he already looks uncomfortable, and he doesn’t want a lawyer.”

”You asked him?” Alec pulled a face at Lance.

”No, he literally said to me ‘I don’t want a lawyer, I don’t want my stupid mother in there’.”

Alec looked to Magnus, “sounds complicated.”

“Kara said Isaac’s mother is homophobic,” Magnus whispered, “so we could get a confession from him. Or you,” Magnus gestured to Sweets and Alec, “you two could get a confession from him.”

“Us two?” Sweets looked up to Alec, “alright, cool, we’ll do that,” he moved to the door again and waved for Alec to follow, “you’ve done this before, right?”

”Yeah,” Alec nodded, “I know what to do, I question him with evidence I have.”

”You have evidence?”

”I have a hair.”

“Oh my God,” Sweets whispered, knowing the hair he was talking about, “so you’re going to… Ask him to show yo-”

”What? No! I’ll figure it out.”

Lance shrugged to himself and then walked into the room with Alec, “alright Isaac, this is Dr. Alec Lightwood-”

“Two doctors,” the boy whispered.

“Yes, two very different doctors,” Alec smiled briefly, “I’m more involved in hard science, as opposed to Dr. Sweets’s ridiculous doctorate for being able to ‘look into people’s minds’ when really, I’m the one who opens up the skulls and looks at their brains’.”

Sweets looked at Alec with a raised eyebrow, the boy had wide eyes, “you’re… Not going to do that to me, are you?”

“No I only do that when the people are dead,” Alec replied, this time not smiling, “Dr. Sweets, you should begin questioning him.”

“Of course,” Sweets nodded and leaned forward, “now, Isaac, previously you told us that you were only platonically involved with Lucas. But now we’ve brought you in for further questioning, you’ve refused to have your mother with you. Your mother who, Kara informs us, is homophobic. What do you think that says to us?”

”That I don’t like my mother’s views?”

“That you’re going to say something you can’t say in front of her,” Alec challenged the boy.

“We won’t force you to say anything but we will ask you questions,” Lance held out a hand to Alec as he spoke to the boy, “were you lying before, when you said about the platonic relationship between you and the victim?”

Isaac looked between the two men but didn’t respond, he just ducked his head.

”Mr. Langford, please answer the question.”

”I loved him, I hated that I did, but I loved him.”

”Isaac, do you mean you hate yourself for liking boys?” Lance asked, hoping to be gentle with the boy.

“How would I live, knowing my mom would hate me for being happy,” Isaac shrugged, “I… I loved Lucas, I did. I didn’t… I didn’t hurt him, I didn’t.”

”Where you and Lucas sexually active?” Alec asked curiously, leaning across the table.

”Yes.”

“We have reason to believe taht you and Lucas engaged in Sexual Intercourse the night that he died, not too long beforehand in fact.”

Isaac pressed his lips together, “we… We did, we had sex but… I didn’t hurt him! I didn’t. I had to leave, and he understood that. So I left. Look we were at his house, I think his dad saw me leave.”

”His dad?” Lance watched the boy cautiously.

“Yes, yes,” the boy nodded eagerly, “he… Lucas and his dad had an argument a few nights beforehand, it was about Lucas being gay. Lucas was confident enough to come out to him but when he did his dad turned against him.”

“Right,” Lance stood up, “excuse us then, we need to call in his father,” he waved for Alec to follow and when they were outside the door Lance crossed his arms and looked up at Alec, “it was Isaac.”

“Quick conclusion, what gave it away to you?” Alec asked as they walked through to the next room, where Magnus had been watching through the two-way mirror.

“The story. He said that he left the house, and on the way out Lucas’s father saw him - or he thought Lucas’s father saw him. If a Straight A student had a bad argument with their dad after coming out, they wouldn’t risk bringing a boy home.”

”However, Mr. Palmer did know about his son,” Magnus added, “remember when we were talking to him, he said about Lucas not having sex with Kara, he was sure about it because he knew that his son was gay. He laughed when you asked about a girlfriend.”

“But he didn’t tell us about Lucas being gay,” Lance continued, “because we didn’t ask. He answered the questions we asked.”

”Of course,” Magnus whispered, hitting himself in the head, “there was a photo on the wall of Mr. Palmer with a group at a pride festival, Mr. Palmer isn’t homophobie as Isaac suggests.”

”And Isaac’s lying to us, hoping the story of a homophobic father is enough of a cover,” Alec stared at the boy through the glass, “what do we do?”

”We play with it,” Lance looked over to Alec and let a small smile play on his face, “that boy fears his mother more than anybody else, here’s what we’re going to do,” Lance then continued to explain the plan to Alec and Magnus, it was quick to explain and he hoped they’d be able to pull it off. He gave them a nod before he and Alec walked back into the interrogation room, Alec took a seat as Lance shut the door behind him. 

“Right, we’ve got somebody talking to your mother right now,” Alec smiled gently to the boy, “she’ll be coming here and you’ll need to let her know what you just told us, just so that she’ll be able to understand and take care of you. After all, it would be hard to go through your loss alone.”

”What?” Isaac glared at the men, “no, no you can’t do that. My mom will hate me.”

“She’ll be okay, she’ll understand,” Lance spoke quietly, he sat down opposite the boy, “now listen, I would suggest finding a therapist, a loss of a loved one is going to be very hard.”

“No, I didn’t want her in here for that reason! I don’t want her to know.”

”To know that you’re gay?” Alec cocked his head.

”I didn’t want her to know that I slept with him, that doesn’t… Doesn’t mean I’m gay.”

”It means you’re not straight,” Sweets looked the boy in the eyes, “your mother will understand.”

”You want me to tell my homophobic mother that I was in love with a boy?” 

Alec looked at Sweets, the psychologist soon responded, “I believe with the right amount of sessions, your mother will be able to understand that your sexuality isn’t wrong.”

”She’ll never understand! I don’t want to tell her because she’ll never understand, don’t you listen?”

”People can change.”

”No they can’t! You’re just as stupid as he was!” 

Alec and Sweets went silent, Sweets raised his eyebrows as he looked at the boy, “he? Lucas?”

The cover broke, Isaac began to let tears fall from his eyes, “he just kept… Kept insisting that I tell her, that I’ll be happier, just because he was happier after telling his father. But my mom wasn’t his dad, she didn’t go to various pride rallies. He never listened. A-after we… After we had s- made love, after we made love he said ‘I’ll be with you when you tell her tomorrow’. I didn’t want to tell her, he couldn’t force me to come out like that. So I… I did the only thing I could to silence him, because he was always so set in his ways. I… I said sorry, and I held him… I didn’t… I didn’t-”

”Sorry kid,” Lance stood up and placed his hands in his pockets, “but you’re under arrest for the murder of Lucas Palmer.”

* * * * * 

“That was harsh, acting as though we had told his mother,” Alec commented as he met Lance and Magnus outside of Magnus’s office, “but good thinking too, it set him into blind panic.”

”I felt bad, I really did,” Lance sighed, “but if that’s the only way to catch the murderer, than so be it.”

”You guys were good in there,” Magnus smiled, “good enough to maybe get along?” He looked to Alec with hope in his eyes. Alec looked down at the psychologist, then to Magnus. 

There was a moment of hope before…

”Nope, he still ruined our date.”

Then Alec walked away from the two men, Magnus was surprised that Lance was smiling, “what’s the grin about?”

”He knows he’s going to end up liking me eventually, it’s a well known fact that I’m lovable.”

Magnus let out a laugh and followed the psychologist to his own office, “you’re more like a carebear than anything else.”

”Thank you, I take that as a compliment.”

”Good,” Magnus placed a hand on Sweets’s back, “has Mr. Palmer got anybody to go to?”

“Yes actually,” Lance smiled, “a man came to pick him up,” he turned to face Magnus, “and they greeted each other with a kiss. Can you believe Isaac tried to pin a bisexual man as a homophobic father?”

”Oh, really? So he’s managing to move on after his wife?”

”Yeah,” Sweets sat down in a chair and closed his eyes briefly, “you know what, that case was a vicious circle, and if we ever get one like that again, I’m going to cry.”

”I bet,” Magnus laughed again, he watched his friend and then tilted his head, “hey so, I’m going to rearrange a date with Alec, no interrupting this time?”

”No interrupting,” Sweets held his hand over his heart, “I promise.”

”Good.”

”Although I have a favour to ask.”

”Oh?”

”I haven’t had the best sleeping arrangements, I was waiting to find a permanant place. I was wondering if… If you have any room, wherever your living? Even if it’s a sofa, I can sleep on a sofa.”

Magnus stared at the psychologist who seemed desperate, “Lance…”

”I can probably just stay in my office if you can’t-”

”Oh my God, you’re terrible,” Magnus laughed and placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder, “you can stay at mine,” he gave in, “because you’re such a good friend.”

“Thank you so much Magnus, I’ll pay you back, you know I will.”

”Yeah, yeah, I trust you will.” 

Lance smiled brightly to Magnus, “thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it.”

* * * * *

Izzy pulled off her gloves and looked over to the intern who had just stood up, he smiled to her and looked around, “everything seems to be clear now. Is that all I can help with?”

Izzy gave the boy a smile, “thank you Mr. Nigel-Murray, but I think you can stay a little longer.”

”Oh?”

“I just want to talk, you seem interesting. I checked in with Dr. Hodgins over at the Jeffersonian, he sounded pretty fond of you.”

”Yes, Dr. Hodgins and I regularly ran experiments together, it’s very fun.”

“Awesome, we’ll have to run experiments together sometime too,” she laughed, “Dr. Brennan is also quite fond of you, she’s fond of all three of you but Hodgins reckons she has a soft spot for you.”

”Really?”

”He said that you basically share the same mind.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he nodded proudly, “Dr. Brennan is probably the only person that appreciates all of my facts, even when they’re unnecessary.”

Izzy smiled to him, “you’re very sweet, thank you a lot for helping me clear up.”

”Don’t worry about it, Dr. Lightwood.”

Izzy looked around and crossed her arms, “how do you keep all of the facts in there?”

“I have a retentive memory.”

“It’s very impressive,” she smiled to him, then she cocked her head, “are you alright?”

Vincent gave a half shrug, “I am, yeah. Just thinking through personal stuff.”

”Oh really?”

Vincent sighed, “I think I have feelings for someone, and I’ve also possibly kissed that someone, but now I feel like that someone doesn’t return the feelings even though they kissed me.”

“Really?”

”Yes… What would you do? In this type of situation?”

Izzy raised her eyebrows at the boy, “me? I’d confront them, but you don’t exactly seem like the confrontational type.”

Vincent stared at her, looking as though he were about to defend himself, “you’ve got a good point there.”

Izzy smiled to him and let out a laugh, “it’s not Daisy, is it?”

”What? No, no, it’s not Daisy.”

”Because I know about you two,” she pulled a face, “and her and Wendell, sh-” Izzy paused, realising the slight change in Vincent’s face, “oh my God.”

”What?”

“Did you kiss Wendell?”

“What would make you think that?” He let out a nervous laugh and avoided eye contact.

Izzy made a ‘pssh’ sound and raised an eyebrow, “your face changed when I said his name, come on Vincent, you can tell me.”

Vincent looked down at Izzy and then looked around, laughing as he tried to find a distraction, “I don’t think my lack of lovelife is a great conversation topic.”

“Vincent!” Daisy called out, rushing into the room, she flashed a smile, “and Izzy. They closed the case so we’re going to Hunter’s Moon to celebrate.”

“They closed it? Who was it?” Izzy asked as she pulled her labcoat off.

“Isaac Langford, his secret boyfriend,” Daisy grinned and looked to Vincent, “are you coming Vincent? Since you’re just old enough to drink?”

”Yes, yes of course,” he nodded eagerly.

“Awesome,” she grinned to him, “oh, Lance will be there too and I’m supposed to warn you about him because he knows about me kissing you.”

Vincent stared at the girl with wide eyes, suddenly terrified for his life, “well, now I don’t want to go.”

”You’re going Vincent,” Izzy snorted out a a laugh, “Lance doesn’t look like he has the ability to hurt a fly.”

“He could,” Daisy protested, “he apologises for it, but if the fly is annoying, then he uses his flyswatter. He als- Nevermind, I’ll embarrass Lance some other time.”

* * * * *

“These Washington interns were definitely a help, don’t you think?” Clary smiled to Vincent, Daisy, and Wendell who were sat together.

”Not really,” Alec shrugged, “most of the time we were sending them off to do needless tasks, we didn’t re-”

”Alec,” Izzy thumped Alec’s shoulder, “it’s not their fault you work at the speed of light.”

“And Lance,” Magnus looked to the psychologist, “very, very, good with the suspect.”

Lance smiled and glanced briefly to Daisy, she was smiling at him with pride, he then turned his attention to Alec, “you were great too, Dr. Lightwood.”

“I know,” Alec shrugged to the psychologist, he leaned back in his chair, “it’s just like any other case, and now it’s dealt with.”

”I really hope nobody gets murdered in the next few days,” Clary whispered, “don’t get me wrong, sometimes I can stand it, but a lot of the times, the fresh bodies are the absolute worst.”

The group laughed as Clary did a disgusted shiver, Sweets continued to steal glances at Daisy, she was perched between the two boys. He fidgeted in his seat and looked down at his own hands, wondering why he still felt that way, he needed to focus on something else, or someone else. He looked back over his shoulder to scan the area, see if there was anybody who might help him out, he then turned to Magnus, “oh hey Magnus, I was thinking, do you still keep in contact with Camille?”

”Saroyan?” Daisy asked, cocking her head.

”N-no, Belcourt, she’s… She was a friend in high school.”

”Afraid not,” Magnus shook his head to Sweets, “she’s gone off the radar. Why?”

”I… I was just thinking,” Sweets began to mumble, “I mean I used to find her attractive and stuff so I thought… If I had spare time, I might be able to go on a date with her.”

“Ah,” Magnus nodded slowly, “well, sorry buddy.”

“Yeah,” Lance forced out a laugh and quickly looked to Daisy again, she was pulling a face as she looked down at the table - she was obviously avoiding any eye contact with Sweets. He pressed his lips together and looked at Clary who had a disapproving look on her face, she was watching him, she raised her eyebrows as though to ask ‘you’re just saying that for the sake of making Daisy feel bad’, Sweets was a psychologist after all, he knew what that kind of face looked like. Instead of making anything of it, he gripped his glass and took a quick sip, a sip that turned into more of gulp.

Alec leaned closer to Magnus, “hey, can we go for another date? Tomorrow?”

Magnus hummed, “that’d be nice, I’ll ensure Lance doesn’t interrupt .”

“Good,” Alec smiled, “I’ll pay.”

”What? No, don’t be silly.”

”I’ll pay,” Alec repeated, “I have more money than you, I’m more financially stable, I’ll be paying.”

“Alright then,” Magnus laughed, as the agent continued to chuckle to himself, Alec examied the group around them. 

Half of the group had began their own conversation, Vincent and Izzy were discussing numerous experiments that they had each performed in the past, Daisy was whispering to Wendell about something, something Wendell didn’t seem to want to discuss, Clary, Jace and Simon were having some sort of competition. Alec frowned when he realised Sweets was actually the only person that wasn’t having a conversation at the table. He didn’t exactly want to talk to the psychologist himself, but Lance was Magnus’s friend, so they should probably talk to him. 

Alec leaned forward on the table and looked over to Lance, “hey, Sweets, you alright?”

”Huh? Yeah, yeah I’m fine.”

”Are you sure?” Alec raised an eyebrow, “wouldn’t a psychologist question that?”

Lance laughed slightly, “depends on the psychologist.”

”What would you do?”

”I’d question it I guess, if they were showing signs that they’re not okay, but I’m not showing those kind of signs - I am, in fact, perfectly fine.”

Alec looked to Magnus, “Magnus, do you think he’s telling the truth?”

Magnus looked to Lance and pulled a face, “well, it’s difficult to tell what a psychologist is thinking. Even when he’s my close friend.”

“I feel like I’ve been demoted,” Lance scoffed in a joking fashion, “we used to be best friends, but now here I am… Close friend of Magnus Bane,” he put on a dramatic voice and held the back of his hand to his forehead, “woe is me, my life is over.”

“Shut up,” Magnus shoved Lance gently, “the years of no contact affected your demotion.”

”I wasn’t the only one at fault there,” he tutted, still challenging Magnus.

“I know, I know.”

The time seemed to pass after that, once everybody began having the same conversation, there were brief comparisons of Brooklyn to Washington and after a while, people started to get tired. Izzy and Clary were the first to disappear, side by side. One by one, they disappeared, untill it was just the Washington group left. Lance could have gone with Magnus, but instead he insisted he’d make his way there later. Magnus passed him a note with his address and then disappeared with Alec. 

Lance looked across at the trio of Washington Interns, “so,” he smiled to them, “just the Washington group, huh?”

“Yeah,” Daisy replied awkwardly, “how are you finding it here?”

”I like it, I like working with Magnus. It’s nice, having him around again.”

”It’s super cute that you two already know each other,” Daisy laughed softly, “and useful. Better than working with people you don’t know at all, not that working with the Brooklyn team is bad or anything, I really like it here.”

“I do too, but it’s a shame that I’m leaving early,” Wendell frowned, in the silence, Daisy and Vincent looked to the blond.

“What?” Vincent had wide eyes as he looked at the boy.

”Dr. B thinks I could help with this case they have over there, some guy found in an abandoned set of drawers,” he paused, “the body was actually arranged in the drawers, meaning the murderer was either very efficient or just liked to organise stuff, but it’s most likely the first one.”

Lance was pulling a face at Wendell, one of shock about the detail, “yeah,” he eventually whispered, “most likely the first one.”

”I’m catching a flight tomorrow,” Wendell informed Daisy and Vincent, both of which looked heartbroken, “Dr. Lightwood is already aware.”

Vincent didn’t say anything, he turned away and looked down at the table in front of him, he began playing with his empty glass - spinning it around. He looked across the table, surprised to see Lance looking at him. He turned away and focused on something else, like the other people in the bar. 

Wendell continued to explain the murder in Washington, but Lance tuned out, he knew that by now only Daisy was listening. He felt sorry for the blond but at the same point he wondered what was going on in Vincent’s head, the english intern was probably about to break the glass, he was barely even focused on doing that. 

“To be honest,” Wendell was still speaking when Lance tuned back into the conversation a few moments later, “I should probably get to sleep soon so I’m not too tired for tomorrow.”

“Yeah, me too,” Daisy stood up at the same time as Wendell, “you coming Vincent?”

”Hmm?” Vincent glanced up and looked around in confusion, “oh uh… Y-”

”Vincent, actually,” Lance spoke up suddenly, reaching across the table to him, “can I talk to you about something?”

“Yeah, sure,” Vincent smiled to the psychologist.

“Alright,” Wendell nodded, “well, be back before midnight,” he joked and quickly winked to the boy, he patted him on the shoulder as he and Daisy made their way out of the bar. 

Vincent looked at the psychologist as he stood up, “so… What did you want to talk to me about?”

“I just wanted some company to be honest.”

”So you’re not going to bite my head off about Daisy? It was only for like five seconds, and she didn’t like it anyway.”

Lance laughed as he walked over to Vincent, “no, no, I’m… I’m okay with that now, I get it.”

“Cool.”

”But what’s wrong with you?” he asked, crossing his arms as they began to walk out of the bar, “you went silent, when Wendell said about going back to Washington.”

“Did I?”

”Yeah, come on Vincent, you can tell me if something was going on there.”

Vincent forced a laugh, “I don’t think anything’s going on there, I did, for a solid like… Twenty minutes.”

“Oh?” One of Lance’s eyebrows shot up.

“Yes. There may have been a chance that we were making out in Egyptology at the Institute but…. He ended it suddenly when he had a revelation about the case.”

“I’m sorry,” Lance frowned, he placed a hand on Vincent’s shoulder, “boys, huh?” He laughed, “I once thought I was going to have a boyfriend, but he wanted to stay friends, the kiss was just that, one simple kiss. Spur of the moment.”

”You?” 

“Yeah, surprisingly bisexual, right?” He laughed and shifted as he spoke, he wrapped his arms around himself, “oh, I have to get something from my car, you good to come with me?”

”Sure, spending longer away from our little Intern hut will keep me happier, I guess. Less of a depressing English Man,” Vincent joked as he followed Lance towards the nearest car park, “so, what do you think of Agent Bane and Dr. Lightwood? Dr. Lightwood seemed quite angered by you interrupting their date,” he chuckled quietly.

“Oh that, man, I have no idea how I’m going to make it up to Alec. Magnus has forgiven me but Dr. Lightwood is on another level.”

They were laughing for a while, continuing their conversation by making jokes about various things - events that had happened in Washington, the Washington team, even the Brooklyn team. Even as their laughs echoed in the deadly silent car park, they continued to see the joy in it all. Lance got to his car quickly, leaning in to grab a duffel bag. 

“Have you been sleeping in your car?” Vincent joked when he saw the state of the inside of the car, but when Lance simply gave him a sideeye look, he knew it wasn’t really a joke, “oh, really?”

”Yeah, but I’m staying at Magnus’s tonight,” he was quiet as he spoke, pausing when he heard an odd noise, a sort of zap-clicking noise. Lance wasn’t a fool, he knew what a taser sounded like. He held a finger up to Vincent and reached into the glove compartment of his car, when he pulled out a Glock. He gave a flash of an apologetic look to Vincent and then slowly made his way towards the source of the noise. He held the gun out in front of him, he couldn’t see anyone to begin with, when they turned a corner he was shocked to see Alec Lightwood on the ground - unconscious. In a panic, both Vincent and Lance rushed towards him. 

“Alec?” Lance called, hoping to wake the man up.

“Dr. Sweets," Vincent spoke quickly as he inspected Alec.

”Yes?”

“Do you remember these?” He pointed to two marks on the back of Alec’s neck.

“Taser, yeah that’s what I heard.”

“Remind you of any serial killer? Perhaps one who puts the expression ‘mindblown’ on a whole new level?”

“The Gravedigger, this isn’t a copycat if that’s what you think, I mean let’s be honest, why would a copycat killer leave the body in-” He froze, as did Vincent, “oh f-”

He didn’t finish his curse, feeling the sudden shock of the taser to the back of his neck. Whoever the copycat was, they had two tasers - that was all Lance could tell, since the last thing he saw was Vincent being tased at the same time of him. Of course then, it went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is going to focus on Lance when he was younger and the beginning of his friendship with Magnus. There's a bit of mayhem and also pain.


	11. The Psychology In The Psychologist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance reflects on his teenage years with Alec and Vincent whilst they fear their last hours alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter and the next, everything seems much worse than it truly is. ;)

Alec shot up, he had no idea what had happened, the last thing he could solidly remember doing was leaving the bar. Now he had no idea where he was, he definitely was not drunk enough to forget everything. He checked around him, there was nothing, nothing except Lance Sweets and Vincent Nigel-Murray. Both of them were unconscious, he leaned over and placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Sweets,” he spoke quietly as though there were someone he could disturb, “come on, wake up.”

Sweets moved his shoulder away and mumbled something, then after a moment he opened his eyes. As soon as he did he jumped up into a sitting position, “what? Where are we?”

“No clue,” Alec answered.

“Great, just great,” Sweets looked at Vincent who was still unconscious, “man… what actually happened?”

“You don't remember?”

Lance shrugged, “last thing I remember is getting my gun out of my car.”

“You have a gun?”

Lance looked at him and pressed his lips together, “I mean, sure I don't have an FBI issued one yet but…”

“An FBI psychologist who's using a gun without the FBI approval?”

“I've been sleeping in my car these past few days, a man needs protection.”

“For a psychologist, you're not very reasonable.”

The two men looked over to Vincent, who was pushing himself up into a sitting position, “morning,” he whispered to the men as a joke, “did anybody see who attacked us?”

“Last thing I remember was getting my gun from my car.”

“Really?”

“What's the last thing you remember?” Alec questioned the boy, knowing full well his retentive memory might come into play.

“I remember everything, we went to the car park to get Sweets's belongings from his car, then we heard a taser clicking. Sweets grabbed his gun, Glock 22, and we made our way towards the sound. We saw you, Dr. Lightwood, on the floor and we quickly analysed the attack before realising they had left you there, which meant that they were still around. Then they got us both from behind,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “I have to say, I don't think I like being tased.”

“I don't think anybody would like being tased,” Alec replied to the intern.

“Oh God,” Lance growled, “we could be dealing with a copycat killer, and we're their victims.”

“What?” Alec cocked his head.

“So far, it's forming a pattern similar to the Gravedigger, but it's not her since she's dead, trust me, I'd know,” he shifted in position and then pulled a face, Alec and Vincent could only wonder why, “that's weird,” he whispered and felt inside of his jacket pockets a moment later he pulled out his gun, “whoever put us in here made sure to leave this with us.”

“Your gun,” Alec frowned,”perhaps they took the bullets out to give us some false sense of security.”

Lance nodded and quickly checked, he looked up afterwards, “one bullet, this was fully loaded so they made sure to leave us one bullet… Why?”

Alec was stumped, he crossed his arms and looked at Lance who was trying to think through the reasoning. 

“Do you think that this is airtight?” Lance looked around, “because that follows the routine of the Gravedigger.”

“Well, this is an excellent set up for a joke,” Vincent laughed quietly, “a forensic anthropologist, an intern and a psychologist walk into a parking garage, and they get ambushed by a copycat killer.”

“It was just meant to be Alec,” Lance looked at Vincent, “we were just… There at the wrong time.”

”Alright, say this place is airtight, that doesn’t give us that long. The time would be changed if one person wasn’t breathing,” Alec spoke the morbid truth, “perhaps it’s an option to sacrifice somebody and give ourselves longer.”

Lance had wide eyes, he looked at Alec with fear, “well… I… I don’t want to be responsible for anybody’s death.”

Alec shrugged, “then we won’t use it, we’ll die together, even if the container isn’t airtight, we’ll be deprived of food and water.”

“Suddenly I hate Brooklyn,” Lance mumbled.

“Like Washington was any better,” Vincent responded to him, “the Gravedigger’s head exploded right in front of you.”

“Please, do keep reminding me of that,” Lance growled, he rolled his eyes and looked at the gun in his hands, “perhaps there’s a weak spot,” he sat up straight and glanced around.

Alec stared at him, “this doesn’t really look like it has a singular weakspot. It all looks to be the same. Other than the doors, which… Seem to be hermetically sealed, yeah this container is meant to be airtight.”

“What if you try to shoot the center, between the two doors?”

Sweets nodded, “we could try that,” he jumped up onto his feet, “okay, I suggest standing back for this one,” Vincent and Alec both got onto their feet and did as instructed, although not standing too far back behind Sweets. Lance then aimed for the proposed area, “okay, this is the only bullet,” he whispered to himself, “get this right,” he pulled the trigger and closed his eyes straight away afterwards. He could tell from the sound that the bullet had hit the doors but then doubled back on itself. He checked himself quickly, no injuries. His head turned when he heard Vincent groan. The boy had fallen down onto the floor. “Vincent,” Lance dropped the gun and rushed over to him, he searched quickly and stopped when he saw the blood appearing around Vincent’s shoulder. 

“It’s alright, you know,” he whimpered out, “it missed the most important parts,” he let out a laugh, “so I’ll be alright.”

Lance nodded as he tried to clear the area of Vincent’s wound, which included unbuttoning his shirt. He winced at the sight of it, Alec rushed over and came to a stop behind Lance, “we need to apply pressure to the wound, Dr. Sweets.”

“Right, “ he quickly pulled off his own shirt and pressed it down on the wound. It was silent, Vincent was remaining calm, Lance was following orders, but he was hoping for more orders from Alec - the man understood the body better than anyone.

But still, Alec remained silent. Lance looked over his shoulder to see what was going on with the man, he was just staring at Lance’s back. Lance knew why immediately, but he didn’t have time to be insecure about it. He lookd down at Vincent, who had now placed his own hand over Lance’s - perhaps for some sort of emotional support, it did make Lance smile. 

“I was a child,” he informed Alec, “multiple foster homes. Before the Finleys, I was in this rough place, I can’t remember their names now but I’m glad. I used to mess up, just human error mistakes, and because of that, I was beaten. We all have our scars, don’t we?”

”Sorry,” Alec cleared his throat, “I shouldn’t have stared.”

“It’s alright,” Lance let out a small smile, continuing to keep the pressure on Vincent’s wound, “it’s not my only scar, sorry, this really isn’t the conversation we should be having right now.”

”No, tell us now,” Vincent mumbled, “it’s a distraction, the story. I’d much prefer a story about your childhood over the pain of my shoulder.”

“Actually yeah,” Alec smiled, “I’d love to hear about how you met Magnus.”

Lance hesitated, but eventually he gave a nod, “alright, if you’re sure.”

* * * * *

Lance had moved to multiple foster homes before being adopted by the Finleys, before the Finleys, the longest time he had spent in one home was just under a year. Oddly enough, that place was the worst one of all. He made mistakes at that home, human error mistakes, like dropping food on the floor, or spilling drinks. It was only human error, but he was punished for it. The belt was pulled out and he was given what he thought he deserved. He blamed himself for it, he had for years, even when Mr. and Mrs. Finley assured him he wasn’t to blame. Eventualy, the scars on his back weren’t the only scars he had. He didn’t like to talk about it but suddenly, telling Alec and Vincent, the time seemed right. The truth was, if the Finleys didn’t punish him, he found a way to punish himself. He didn’t realise how harsh he was being until he grew older, when he was roughly fourteen and he had seen teenage girls get taunted about harming themselves, he didn’t understand why people were so harsh to those who were in pain, wouldn’t that just put them in more distress. Of course, most people went on the excuse ‘they’re kids’ and that was all, teenage girls were told they hurt themselves for attention, but nobody ever seemed to blink an eye to the boys. He wondered why.

There were posters spread across the walls of the school halls, aimed towards the girls. ‘Don’t hurt yourself, you’re beautiful’, ‘Would you hurt others like this?’, ‘You’re beautiful as you are, without the scars’. All Lance could think when he saw them was that they didn’t know the truth behind the scars, sure some people worried about their appearence, but that didn’t make that the cause of their harm. Lance didn’t exactly like how he looked, some curly hair, gawky kid, but he put up with it. That wasn’t the reason he punished himself, he punished himself for his mistakes. He kept it to his thighs, people would be less aware of that.

According to a girl named Carly, there were posters in the girl’s bathrooms, but he had seen none in the boy’s. He often thought of bringing it up, but then perhaps someone caught on, perhaps they would speak to the Finleys, then what if the Finleys thought they couldn’t keep a kid like him around. Well, there was one thing he knew from that, he definitely wasn’t doing it for attention.

He remembered sitting a table one lunchtime, by himself, because people didn’t seem to want to speak to the gawky kid with the foster family. That didn’t make much sense to him either, surprisingly that lunchtime, Carly sat down opposite him.

“Oh, h-hey Carly,” he smiled to the girl, truth be told, she was pretty. Of course Lance had to have the gawky kid crush on her.

“Hi Lance.”

”Aren’t you sitting with uh… your friends?”

“i wanted to talk to you,” she shrugged.

“Really? W-was it about something in particular?”

Carly looked him in the eyes and then glanced over to the table where her friends were sat, then she looked back to the boy “well to be honest, Lance, yes. I know I can trust you, and I know you’ll be great at advice.”

“Alright, what is it?”

”One of my friends… I think she’s hurting herself, like you know, all of those posters around school? I’m really worried about her.”

”O-oh,” Lance leaned back, fiddling with his sleeves, “what makes you think that?”

“She just… She’s pretty distant. She doesn’t seem to talk to many people,” Lance looked at the table of Carly’s friends, nobody seemed to really fit that description, “and apparently she doesn’t like to get changed in front of others,” Lance knew who fit that description, “I’m really worried.”

“Carly,” he looked at the girl, “who are you talking about? None of your friends really fit that description but… I mean, I do.”

Carly looked somewhat guilty, “damn, you’re good at decoding things,” she frowned at him, “Lance, are you hurting yourself?”

Lance looked her in the eyes and tried to make a decision, to lie or to confide. The decision was made, he put on a smile and shook his head, “no, I’m not. I don’t like getting changed because I have some bad scars on my back. They’re from an accident in the past. I just don’t want people judging me for them.”

”Fair enough,” Carly nodded, “alright, as long as you’re okay.”

”Yeah, I’m good,” he continued to smile, he didn’t let it faulter even when Carly got up from her seat and rushed away. So she cared for him, but she didn’t want to stay around him for too long. He probably shouldn’t have lied to her, but part of him hoped she had been able to tell when someone was lying. 

It may have been around that time that Lance thought of going into Psychology, beig able to help people, know what their body language meant. It wouldn’t be a bad option. He wanted to help people who were in situations like his own. 

* * * * *

When he was fifteen, he was still without any friends. Carly had somewhat stopped talking to him eventually, for no reason, she just stopped. She had better friends, Lance was just the fallback. He was walking home one day, taking his time, the Finleys wouldn’t mind. He came to a stop at a corner when he heard people talking, he peeked around the corner curiously. A group of boys from high school, the main thought was ‘oh this is fantastic’. Nobody at the school really liked Lance, he just hoped it wouldn’t end up like in the movies. He took a breath and slowly began to walk past them.

“Hey, Short Stuff!”

Lance ignored that.

“Oh come on Bilbo, you know I’m talking to you.”

He kept staring at the ground, perhaps he could pretend to listen to music.

“Alright then,” the voice was far closer and suddenly his shoulders were grabbed and he was spun around, “you don’t want to talk?”

Lance stared up at the boy, “I need to get home.”

”Right,” the taunter snorted, “to your fake parents. Hey, I heard you don’t like getting changed in front of boys.”

“Y-yeah, does that matter?”

“I bet you don’t want to do it because you’re gay.”

“Oh my God,” Lance whispered, “is that really how your logic works? That’s not even insulting, it’s stupid that you think I’d be offended by that. Lance doesn’t get changed in front of other boys, he must be gay.”

”Your name is Lance Sweets, so you’re obviously gay.”

“Your name is Kieran Gallagher, so you’re obviously a dick.”

The older boy scoffed and pushed the boy back, “oh you’ve asked for it now.”

Lance was shocked when the boy began to move towards him, he spun around and rushed in the only direction he could go, he took one glance over his shoulder and that proved to be a mistake seeing as he ran into a car that was just turning a corner. He fell back from the car and continued to look around with wide eyes. The driver’s door opened, and he was pretty sure he heard the passenger door open as well.

”I’m so sorry,” the person instantly apologised, “are you alright?”

”I- I-”

”Hey, aren’t you that Sweets kid?” a girl asked as she made her way around the car.

Lance nodded quickly, the driver glanced over to the group that had been chasing Lance, “what are you guys doing? Taunting another helpless boy? How mature of you.”

”Oh shut up Bane,” Kieran scoffed, “the queer had it coming.”

“Get out of here,” the girl somewhat growled at them, “before I gut you.”

A moment of hesitance, and then the boys rushed off. Lance didn’t look up to the pair, because he didn’t want them to see the tears in his eyes. 

“Hey,” the driver crouched down and tried to catch Lance’s eyes, “are you alright?”

”N-not really,” Lance took a couple of deep breaths and stood up, “I should get home.”

”We’ll take you,” the girl smiled to him.

“You don’t even know me,” he nervously replied.

The girl then laughed, “alright, get up Lance.”

”You… Do know me?”

”Lance Sweets, you’re a Sophomore,” she continued to smile as she spoke, “I know basically everyone at the school. I’m Camille Belcourt, by the way.”

”She’s somewhat smart,” the boy laughed, “I’m Magnus Bane, you don’t need to be scared of us you know,” he stood back up again and reached down, Lance took his hand. Magnus pulled him up and grinned, “hey, I’ll take you home, where do you live?”

“A couple of blocks away.”

“Alright, tell me when to turn and whatnot,” Magnus waved a hand and they all got in the car.

Lance was pretty sure their kind offer would be a one off friendly moment, he’d see them around town again but he probably wouldn’t be noticed by them. They were just kind because he almost got himself killed by running into their car.

The next day, however, he found that he was wrong. Once again, sitting at his lonely table in the lunch hall, he was focused on prodding his food with a fork when two people sat opposite him. He flinched, thinking it was most likely Kieran and one of his friends. It wasn’t, it was Magnus and Camille. 

“Hey there little guy,” Magnus greeted, “how are you doing today?”

“I’m… Good, why are you guys sitting with me?” 

Camille snorted out a laugh, “don’t sound so worried, you seemed pretty cool, I mean what other Sophomore headbangs to Death Metal in the back of Magnus’s car,” she winked to him, “you honestly are pretty cool.”

“Really?”

”Yes,” Magnus nodded eagerly, “oh right,” he lifted up his bag and then pulled out several CDs and slid them across the table to Lance, “since you said that was your first time listening to Death Metal yesterday, I’ve got a selection of CDs for you to admire, you can borrow them for as long as you like.”

Lance looked at him with wide eyes, “wow, a-are you sure?”

”Yes,” he laughed. Lance felt a genuine smile come to his face as conversation broke out between them. The loan of the CDs must have meant that Magnus was serious about the friendship, he actually had friends, sure they were two years older than him, but they were his friends.

* * * * *

When Lance was sixteen, Camille and Magnus both found out more about Lance. They had all gone to a concert, dressed up for the occasion of course, and Magnus had done Lance’s makeup for the occasion. Magnus then drove all three of them to the concert and it had been a very exciting night, Lance managed to escape from the moshing crowds. Magnus, however, did emerge with a broken wrist and a broken toe but he claimed he was too pumped to even notice until they got in the car. Of course then, Camille had to drive him to the ER to get it sorted out. 

Lance Sweets never thought he would be in the ER dressed like this, but he sat beside Camille swinging his legs as they waited.

“You’re so short,” Camille commented suddenly, “I mean obviously I’m wearing heels but, even without my heels, you’re like… At my shoulder.”

“Well, I’m sixteen, I’ve got room to grow.”

“Let’s hope you do,” Camille chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder, “otherwise you’ll probably never get a girl.”

”Or guy,” Lance replied, he realised what he had said a beat later, “oh, um…”

“Wow, Lance Sweets, dressed head to toe in Death Metal gear, in the ER waiting room, just came out to me as bi.”

“That was a complete accident.”

“It’s alright,” she playfully bumped into him, “I won’t tell anybody.”

“Thanks.”

That was the main bonding moment between Camille and Lance, it was later that night when Magnus and Lance became slightly closer. Lance stayed at Magnus’s that night, introducing himself to Magnus’s parents - he hadn’t known until that point that Magnus was adopted. 

Magnus assured Lance that he could be comfortable around him, of course Lance felt comfortable, but he still didn’t want to change in front of Magnus. He had escaped to another room to change quickly, he had done so and returned to Magnus who was sat on the bed in sweatpants without a shirt. 

Now was not a good time to be a young bisexual boy, Lance had cursed to himself, he awkwardly cleared his throat and smiled to his host, “so uh… do you want me to sleep on the floor?”

“Oh, God no, I thought we’d both fit on the bed, are you okay with sharing?” 

Lance hesitated, he fiddled with the cuffs of his long sleeved shirt, “I uh, y-yeah, I’m fine with that,” he smiled.

“Good, I don’t want my best friend to be uncomfortable.”

”Best friend?” Lance repeated with small grin showing up, “I like the sound of that.”

“What else did you think you were?” Magnus laughed, “I mean really.”

”Well, I thought Camille was your best friend.”

”A man can have more than one best friend, besides, Camille and I actually kind of have a thing going.”

“What?” Lance was astounded, okay sure, there was tension between the two but… He never thought… In all honestly, Lance had hoped he had a chance with either of them, it was now apparent that he did not have a chance either way. He pressed his lips together and furrowed his brows in thought, “that’s pretty… Wow.”

Magnus laughed and placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder, he changed the topic quickly, “you realise you’re probably going to overheat right?” 

Lance shrugged, “I’ll be alright.”

Magnus pulled a sarcastic face, “okay then, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Lance let out a laugh and bumped into Magnus playfully, “yeah yeah.”

As Magnus threw back the covers he looked over to Lance, “hey did you ever find that elephant?”

Lance chuckled, he had recently lost one of his secretly most treasured posessions, a blue stuffed elephant that he had rightfully named ‘Trunky’. He hadn’t told Magnus or Camille just how much he treasured it, but it was the one thing he could keep from his actual birth parents. Sure they had abandoned him, but they had left that elephant with him, it was all he had of them. He used to keep the Elephant by his pillows, if he was ever particularly upset he’d hold the Elephant to his chest at night. He only noticed it missing when he had an especially bad day, it had included arguing with that stupid Kieran boy, and then Carly screaming at him, even the comfort of Magnus and Camille didn’t cheer him up entirely. He would have been better with his elephant, but it was nowhere to be found. The Finleys weren’t aware of where his lost treasuer could be, and neither did he - he figured he must have simply misplaced it, and he hated himself for making that mistake. 

“No,” he eventually answered, “I mean… It’s only an elephant, there’ll be another one. Even if I am a sixteen year old boy.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” Magnus laughed, he crawled under the covers and welcomed Lance to his side. 

Lance enjoyed the comfort with Magnus, they were best friends. He hated the idea that male best friends were too scared of being close, because he loved being close to Magnus, he loved having a best friend.

A couple of hours into the night, Lance woke up uncomfortably, he shifted about and grunted - waking up Magnus in the process.

“What’s wrong Lancey boy?” Magnus mumbled as he rubbed his eyes. 

Lance fiddled with the covers, “I’m really hot.”

A grin came onto Magnus’s face, one of proud, “oh really? Well gee, if only somebdy had warned you.”

“Shut up,” Lance scoffed out a laugh and punched Magnus’s shoulder lightly.

“Just take off your shirt,” Magnus suggested, when he saw Lance hesitate he spoke again, “come on, I’m not trying to force you to strip, I’m just trying to get you comfortable.”

Lance looked into Magnus’s eyes, he was so genuine and kind. He let a small smile appear on his face, “a-alright,” he sat up and closed his eyes as he reached for the hem of his shirt. He gripped onto the material for a moment, Magnus was fine, Magnus was the perfect friend, he wouldn’t care about the scars. Finally, he pulled the shirt over his head and then fell back onto the bed again - staring up at the ceiling just waiting for Magnus to say something.

He pushed the covers and pointed to his stomach, there was a singular scar across his perfect skin, “we’ve all got our scars,” he whispered, “I won’t question them.”

“Thank you,” Lance replied quietly, he shifted and hesitated again before placing his head on Magnus’s shoulder, “so much.”

* * * * *

“I met somebody who didn’t want to make my life about my scars, even when he saw the ones on my thighs-”

”He saw the scars on your thighs?”

”Camille had a swimming pool, and my trunks rode up slightly when I got out of the pool at one point..”

”Ah,” Alec nodded, “continue.”

“We used to go into this abandoned hotel, Hotel DuMort. There was this secret passage to the next room so we could hide, make a quick exit in case police showed up. Even though I had found somebody I could truly trust, a few months later he was off to college, as was Camille, although we had kind of cut ties with her a couple of weeks after the poo incident. She also saw my scars and made various comments to Magnus about it, he broke up with her and then him and I stuck together. There was this emotional goodbye with Magnus, I didn’t want to let him go, but I had to. He gave me a blue elephant keychain - as replacement for my other missing friend of course.”

“Did you ever find the elephant?” Vincent asked.

“No,” Lance laughed, he was still pressing down on the shirt against Vincent’s wound, he sighed, “after Magnus left I changed, I started yelling at the Finleys a lot when all they wanted to do was care for me, I’d lock myself in my room, turn up my stereo and tell them to go away if they knocked at my door,” he laughed at his own story, “honestly, I like what I’ve become now. It’s weird to think that these hideous scars make me happy to be who I am.”

Alec smiled at him, a genuine smile, “you know, Lance, I know I’ve been quite standoffish to you in these past few days, and I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to be nice because of my scars, Alec.”

“That’s not why,” Alec whispered, “look, if we’re going to die in here, can I die actually liking you?”

Lance smiled up over to the anthropologist, “alright… I like you, you know Alec. I really do think that you’re a great match for Magnus,” he paused to hear Alec’s laugh, “have you been in a relationship before?”

Alec shook his head, “not really, I’ve had nothing that would compare to me and Magnus - I know we’re only just starting but all the signs are there that this is going to be a perfect relationship.”

Lance nodded, “I genuinely always thought I’d be getting with Magnus at some point. But after he left I started to act up and I got into many different relationships, with guys, girls, polyamorous relationships, friends with benefits, and in the end - I always winded up getting myself hurt. But still, I continued. They slowed down once I was focused on psychology of course, but I still had multiple.”

“You know,” Vincent spoke up, making both men turn their heads quickly to look at him, “Daisy still likes you, a lot. She tries to hide it but she does.”

”I still like her too,” Lance whispered, “but we broke up for a reason. I like her, and sure she might like me but… Perhaps we’re better with other people,” he quickly changed the topic, “if this is meant to be a replica of the Gravedigger, then somene would have received a message, telling them how long we had to live.”

”But no hints to where we are,” Vincent continued, “alright, I’m guessing by our appearence we were previously unconscious for around five hours, then we had the whole ordeal with the gun, roughly taking thirty minutes, perhaps less. Then Lance’s story time, just over an hour and a half. So say we’ve been in the airtight container for seven hours, times that by three, we’ve used 21 hours of oxygen and I don’t believe that we’ll have many more hours after that.”

“Great,” Lance sighed.

“Well,” Alec looked at Lance, and then to Vincent, “I kind of just want to go to sleep, sleep through the time so I can die sooner.”

“So, we’re officially giving up?” Lance frowned. 

“I thought we gave up straight after the gun to be honest,” Vincent chuckled.

Lance nodded slowly, he glanced around and then looked at the shirt that he had pressed to Vincent’s wound, “on the off chance somebody saves us last minute,” he paused and flashed a smile, “I’m going to rest my head on the compress, are you okay with that?”

”Go ahead,” Vincent nodded, “and if we all die, we can die cuddling, like the men we are.”

Alec laughed and moved onto his side, he was the other side of Vincent, “it’ll be nice,” he whispered, “and I’d like to thank you both, I’ve known you for a few days but, I’m pretty sure I’d prefer to be in here with you than Simon,” he laughed as he rested his head on Vincent’s unwounded shoulder, he was looking directly at Lance who was lying on the bloodied shirt, “you’re a very good person.”

“As are you, Dr. Lightwood.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going back to college tomorrow so I don't know how often I'll be updating. But to make up for it, here's a sneaky peek of the next chapter.
> 
> * * * * *
> 
> “I’m in a very dangerous job, I don’t have an officially issued gun but I had one for my own protection.”
> 
> ”Danger,” the woman taunted, “a cute man like you in the line of danger? What are you?”
> 
> Sweets chuckled slightly, “uh, FBI Ps-”
> 
> “FBI?” The woman was amazed, “wow, that’s hot… I see the danger, don’t all FBI agents have an issued firearm?”
> 
> ”I’m an FBI Psychologist,” he explained quickly.
> 
> “Oh… That’s less impressive.”
> 
> Sweets scoffed, “right, right, I bet you have a far more impressive job.”
> 
> The woman laughed and shook her head, “no, no, I’m a waitress.”
> 
> ”Well, nothing wrong with a cute waitress.”


	12. The Dead Man In The Agent's Clothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A terrifying discovery is made by the Brooklyn team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> psst... everything is not what it seems.

Vincent’s eyes opened, he shaded himself from the light and let out a grunt - planning on going back to sleep until he remembered where he was and realised that there was light. He lifted his head slightly and could see that the two doors were now wide open.

“That…” he nudged the two men who were asleep on his shoulders, “guys, there is something you need to see.”

They both woke up and looked at Vincent with concern, Vincent could see the realisation dawn on their face when they saw the sunlight on his face. They both turned to the doors.

“They’re open,” Lance stood up, “but who-”

”Whoever put us in here,” Alec answered before Lance could finish, “if it was anybody else, they would have rushed in and woken us up, so… They never meant for us to die?”

“I am so glad I didn’t take my own life with that bullet,” Lance whispered.

Vincent pushed himself up on his unwounded sound, “well, I don’t know about you two, but I want to leave before they close again.”

Lance and Alec both helped VIncent up the rest of the way, Alec supported him when he was on his feet, “let’s get going then,” he spoke as he moved the intern towards the door, Lance stayed back for a moment. He picked up his gun from the floor and tucked it away inside of his jacket, he then followed the others to the outside. He had never been happier to see sunlight. 

Alec was grinning as he helped Vincent out, although Vincent insisted he didn’t need help since the injury was in his shoulder. Alec still kept to his side. Lance ran to catch up with them, even though they didn’t have much of a distance on him. They followed a path and tried to recognise where they were.

When they came to a corner, they paused and looked ahead of them. The FBI were around an area, and the trio could make out Daisy, Jace, and Izzy as well.

“We’re placed metres away from a murder,” Vincent hissed, “coincidental? Or on purpose?”

”On purpose I reckon,” Lance started to smile as he saw Daisy rushing toward them.

“Lance! Oh my God, where have you guys been? And why are you half naked?” She aimed the second question was Lance who was wearing nothing on his torso.

”We were right over there,” Vincent pointed with his unharmed arm.

“And I took my shirt off to tend to Vincent’s wound.”

”What happened?”

”I shot a gun and the bullet went into his shoulder,” Lance continued, he earned a look from both Daisy, and Luke who was approaching them, “it was an accident.”

”You have a gun?” Luke crossed his arms and glared at Lance.

Lance hesitated and slowly tried to lie, “uh, well…”

“Are you registered by the FBI to have a gun?”

“You know, not entirely.”

“Give me the gun, Sweets.”

”Ah! What? No!” Lance crossed his arms, “no…”

Luke pulled a face and held out his hand, Lance sighed and put the gun into Luke’s hand, “thank you, not so hard, was it?” Luke smiled to him, “now, you three should get to the hospital.”

”Yes,” Vincent nodded, “good idea.”

”If there’s a murder, I’m staying,” Alec looked at them, “I’m not injured, I don’t need to go to the hospital.”

”You can’t be here,” Luke ordered, placing his hand out, “sorry, you all need to go to the hospital.”

Alec pulled a face, “Vincent is the only one injured, let me get back to doing my job.”

”Perhaps you should rest.”

”This is tedious,” Alec growled and rushed past Daisy and Luke.

“Alec!” Luke called him back, but the anthropologist only ignored him, he looked to Lance, “get him to a hospital,” he pointed to Vincent as he spoke.

”You should do as Luke asked, Lance. Take Vincent to the hospital, come tell me what it is when Vincent’s sorted out. I’m sure one of the FBI agents can take you.”

“You know, perhaps this blood loss is making me slightly woozy,” Vincent began to mumbled, “now that I’m stood up and outside…”

“Alright, let’s go,” Lance nodded as he took Vincent off, “let Magnus know we’re okay,” he called back to her. 

Daisy let her brave face falter, she turned back and made her way to the scene where Simon was doing his best to stop Alec.

“You’re my intern, Mr. Lewis.”

”I’m aware, but I’m doing this for your own good.”

”Why are you all keeping me away from my job? I can identify the victim’s gender, age, and ethnicity in five seconds. I’m a crucial t-”

”Male,” Simon spoke up, avoiding eye contact with Alec as he did, “28, Indonesian.”

Alec raised his eyebrows, “you did that? Well, I’m… Proud. Where’s Magnus? He’ll probably be the only sane person here.”

“He’s… He’s…” Simon looked around in a panic.

“Well, he’s at the crime scene,” Daisy whispered, both of the men looked at her, Alec’s face was one of confusion whilst Simon’s face actually kind of screamed ‘why the fuck would you say that’, she shrugged to Simon, “it’s not a lie.”

Alec looked around, “where is he?”

Daisy and Simon hesitated before they pointed to the remains on the ground, when Alec followed the line of their point his heart broke. 

“What?”

”His ID badge was left with the body, as was his phone, keys… And from what we can see of the clothes, they’re the same ones he was wearing last night.”

”No…”

”Dr. Lightwood,” Daisy tried to be sympathetic.

Alec shook his head, “that’s impossible, this isn’t Magnus.”

“Dr. Lightwood, you should go home,” Simon whispered.

“Come on big bro,” Izzy rushed over to Alec “I’ve collected all the samples I need, I’ll take you home.”

Alec nodded slowly, “y-yeah, okay,” he was obviously struggling to breathe, “I… I can’t believe it.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” she placed a hand on his back, “you should take a couple of days off, focus on keeping yourself strong.”

Alec frowned, “I didn’t even get a second date. My partner, my boyfriend. I know we were just starting out, but it hurts.”

“It will hurt, he was your partner.”

* * * * *

Lance leaned back in the waiting area, he didn’t even have his phone for passing entertainment. He looked up at the TV, the news was on and he instantly knew they were at the crime scene that he and Vincent had just been at. He had to read the subtitles since the sound was muted.

The body has been confirmed to be that of an FBI agent.

Lance’s eyes widened, an FBI agent? No wonder everybody seemed so shaken at the scene, but they had dealt with things like that before - hadn’t they?

The agent’s name is Magnus Bane.

Lance stood up, “no,” he spoke out loud, knowing that others were looking at him, “this isn’t…”

”Are you okay?” A woman sat by him asked.

“The… The guy they’re talking about,” he pointed to the screen and cleared his throat, “he’s my friend… Was my friend.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Lance gave her an attempted smile and looked back to the screen where Izzy was approaching the news anchor.

You can’t be here, you need to take your news team and leave. Go talk about other problems of the world.

This is news.

This is a crime scene of a close friend of mine and I don’t want your news ridden hands covering it and not caring. Please leave, before you get escorted away by FBI.

Lance felt tears coming to his eyes, he sat down again and covered his face with his hands, he came close to death only to wake up and find out that his best friend was dead. Of course it would be like that. He balled his fists, the woman next to him placed a hand on his back, “it’ll be okay,” she whispered, “I’m so so sorry that this happened to you.”

“I literally just got in contact with him again,” he whispered, “he was just starting a relationship, this is so…” He grunted, “I’m going to find whoever murdered him and… And…”

”And?”

”I’d say kill them but I don’t want to be put in jail, I’ll just put them in jail.”

“That’s the spirit,” the woman let out a sweet laugh, “so… Why are you here?”

”I accidentally shot my friend in the shoulder,” he responded casually, when he saw the woman’s eyebrow move up he spoke again, “not my dead friend… My other friend.”

“That does explain the bloody shirt,” she looked down at the shirt that he was wearing, it was in fact the shirt he had used as a compress - he wasn’t going to wait in the hospital shirtless. He had been lucky enough to receive a spare jacket from the FBI agent that drove them there, but he was stuck with wearing the bloodied shirt, “although… What happened here?” she pointed to the right side of his face where he had marks of blood.

“This is going to be weird but, I was sleeping on the compress. So this is also my friend’s blood.”

“Gross,” the woman laughed and then pulled a face, “you have a gun? That’s so… Cliche American. Legal guns, illegal Kinder Eggs.”

“I’m in a very dangerous job, I don’t have an officially issued gun but I had one for my own protection.”

”Danger,” the woman taunted, “a cute man like you in the line of danger? What are you?”

Sweets chuckled slightly, “uh, FBI Ps-”

“FBI?” The woman was amazed, “wow, that’s hot… I see the danger, don’t all FBI agents have an issued firearm?”

”I’m an FBI Psychologist,” he explained quickly.

“Oh… That’s less impressive.”

Sweets scoffed, “right, right, I bet you have a far more impressive job.”

The woman laughed and shook her head, “no, no, I’m a waitress.”

”Well, nothing wrong with a cute waitress.”

Sweets wondered what the hell he was doing, flirting with a random girl even though he knew he wanted to get back with Daisy. But there was always the chance she wouldn’t want him back, perhaps she did like him but she wanted to move on. There was no harm in flirting whilst he was still single.

“I’m Lance, by the way.”

“Rebecca,” she replied, “Lance is a very unique name.”

“It’s even more unique,” he laughed, “my full name is Lance Sweets.”

”Wow, mine is so bland in comparison, plain old Rebecca Lewis.”

He questioned her name in his head, Lewis? Like Simon Lewis? There was no way he was going to ruin this by finding out she was Simon Lewis’s sister, he just continued to smile, “I still like it.”

“Thanks.”

”So why are you here? Injured boyfriend? Or girlfriend?”

”My mom,” she quickly replied, “she had a bit of a fall, rushing around because we’re meant to be visiting my brother at work today,” she then paused and gave Lance a playful look, “and I’m single, by the way.”

”So am I,” Lance answered the unasked question, he leaned back and closed his eyes, “wow, for a moment I forgot about Magnus.”

Rebecca’s smile dropped, “I’m so sorry, have you ever lost anyone before?”

”I lost my adopted parents not too long ago, but I had to get straight into work, get over it you know?”

”And now?”

”I’ll have to do the same,” he pressed his lips together.

Rebecca placed her hand over Lance’s, “well, Mr. Psychologist, you can talk to me if you need to,” she pulled out her phone and quickly selected to add a new contact before passing it to him, “add your number, I’ll text you and then you can have mine.”

“You know, I actually lost my phone,” Sweets smiled down at the phone, he then looked back up to Rebecca, “we were kind of kidnapped…”

“Right,” Rebecca pulled a face, but she then turned to him with a smile, “well, give me your hand,” he held his hand with one of hers and reached to the other side, she held a pen in her spare hand and on the back of Lance’s hand scribbled out a line of numbers, “write that down whenever you get home and send me a text when you get a new phone.”

“S-sure,” Lance laughed awkwardly as he looked back into her eyes, “I’ll definitely be doing that.”

“It’s official Dr. Sweets, I’m now free, I’m safe to- Hello,” Vincent approached, stopping his own sentence when he saw Rebecca, “who’s this?”

“This is Rebecca,” Lance smiled to her and then to Vincent.

“Well, hi there, I’m Vincent.”

”You’re the one Lance shot in the shoulder?” Rebecca raised an eyebrow and giggled, “did he do it on purpose?”

”No, we were stuck in this container and he tried to shoot our way out but it ricocheted off of the container and hit me, quite a funny moment when I look back at it. Did you know that in America there are approximately 270 million firearms possess by civilians and only 897,000 carried by police,” he looked around absent-mindedly after stating his face, “huh, that’s where we were,” he pointed to the TV where the news anchor was stood in front of their container. 

Lance rolled his eyes, “God, they just can’t leave it alone.”

“I know,” Rebecca growled, “they’re so nosy.”

“Oh, Vincent,” Lance looked at the boy, “there’s… Something important you should know.”

”Yeah?”

“The body at the crimescene… It belonged to Magnus.”

* * * * *

The remains had been brought to the lab, Clary and Jace just stared at the cadaver lying on their table. Jace was standing tall, trying to keep strong whilst he looked at the remains whislt Clary was quite the opposite.

“Okay, I’m not doing it,” she held up her hand, “we can’t just act like this isn’t someone we worked with.”

“It’s our job, Clary.”

“We know it’s him, you guys don’t need me to do a facial reconstruction so why am I here?”

“We need to be a team.”

Clary sighed and crossed her arms, she frowned, “alright, I’ll stay.”

“Good.”

Clary looked at the body, “what the hell did they do to him?”

Jace sighed, “he was shot, and beaten. This is awful.”

“Is the bullet still in him?” 

”Yes, I assume so. There’s no exit wound.”

”We need to get it out then, find out what kind of gun it was from.”

Jace nodded and did as asked, he was staying highly focused on the task, even with Clary hovering over his shoulder. It was an easy job, the bullet came out of the wound easily and Jace droppd it into a tray for Clary, “you get on that,” he smiled to her, “keeps you away from the body.”

“Thank you so much,” she returned the smile and made her way into her own room.

It was hard, knowing that this bullet killed Magnus but she had to do her job. For the team. She placed it down on a desk and stared at it as though it could bring him back. She crouched down to be at eye level with it.

“You’re probably the smallest thing that has pissed me off,” she spoke to the bullet, “and if you were alive, I would fucking kill you for killing Magnus. Sure we were standoffish to him, but he was still a member of our team! He was our friend!” She rested her head on the desk and grunted, “this is so stupid, so frustrating,” she stood up again and looked closely at the bullet, “well that’s easy,” she mumbled, “I’ve seen you plenty of times before.”

She stood up straight and looked around, “Glock 22, so what’s the deal? Killed by another FBI agent? Or his own gun?” She gasped and rushed out of the room towards Jace who was on the platform, she quickly and skillfully scanned her ID card as she ran, “do we have Magnus’s gun? Was it on him?”

”Yeah,” Jace pointed over to a table where the evidence was all laid out, Clary ran over and picked up at the gun.

“Alright, I’m running tests on this, the bullet is definitely from a Glock 22, specific I know - but I’m that excellent.”

“You usually only work this fast when you’re angry.”

”I am,” Clary nodded with a grin on her face, she looked at the table, there was a bag of more used bullets, “oh,” she picked them up, “I’ll be taking these with me.”

“Go ahead, they were found in the surrounding area, as though somebody had shot and missed on several occasions.”

“Huh, why didn’t you just give me these in the first place,” Clary growled slightly, “so not another FBI agent? They wouldn’t miss, would they?”

“Not likely.”

“Well, if I’m right, this gun will have an empty cartridge!” She proudly checked the gun, but her smile dropped, “uh… It’s fully loaded.”

Jace glared at her with wide eyes, “yeah definitely don’t put the cartridge back in.”

Clary put the cartridge on the table and turned to Jace with the gun in one hand and the bullets in the other, “I thought that maybe… They took Magnus’s gun and used it but, that idea is wrong.”

“Nice try though,” Jace smiled, he paused and looked at Clary, “although…”

Clary blinked, watching as Jace froze with the thought, he didn’t speak he just stayed in silence, staring ahead of him, “although?” She prompted him to continue.

Jace dropped what he was doing and made his way to Clary, he spoke quietly, “Alec, Lance, and Vincent showed up a few feet away from Magnus…”

“Yeah?”

Jace looked around and leaned closer, “Lance had a gun, I think it was a glock.”

Clary was amazed by the information, “where is it?”

“Luke took it, Lance wasn’t supposed to have a gun.”

“Jace, if these bullets came from that gun…”

Jace slowly nodded, “well, it can’t be a coincidence that they were near the scene, supposedly locked up by someone and let out - what kind of captor does that?”

”One that wants to play mindgames, or the three of them are lying - but why would they?”

Clary went unanswered, she pressed her lips together and made her way back to her room, she’d have to talk to Luke when she next could. She placed the evidence down on her desk. She took a seat and stared at the items on her desk. She looked up when somebody knocked on her door - she was unaware of how long it had been but she looked up to see Daisy and Wendell stood in the doorway.

”Wendell, I thought you were going back to Washington,” was the first thing she said.

The boy shrugged, “when Vincent didn’t return to us yesterday, I thought I’d better stay a bit longer to make sure he’s okay. Just a couple of days, I’m so sorry about Magnus. It’s unbelievable.”

“I know,” Clary nodded, “where is Vincent?”

”At the hospital, Lance took him there earlier,” Daisy answered, she smiled to Wendell, “still worried about him?”

“Obviously,” Wendell replied, “when somebody’s in the hospital, you’re bound to be worried about them.”

“I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”

“Good,” he smiled.

Clary didn’t want to tell them what she had discussed with Jace, so she stayed quiet, she just flashed one more smile to them and then leaned back again. Eventually Daisy and Wendell made their way out of her room. Clary hated what she thought, but she was really begining to question whether she could truly trust the psychologist that suddenly stepped in. 

* * * * *

Lance and Vincent had returned, but they were instantly ushered into Alec’s office, because the team claimed they ‘weren’t fit to work straight away’, but in reality it was because of the possibility of the gun belonging to Lance. Vincent sat in Alec’s chair with his feet up on the desk.

“Don’t sit like that at Alec’s desk,” Lance grumbled as he looked over to the intern.

“I’m injured, I need to relax. If I’m being locked up in an office, then I’m staying like this.”

”Alright,” Lance shrugged, he sat down on the sofa in Alec’s office.

“So… You and that Rebecca girl,” Vincent raised his eyebrows to Lance.

“What about it?”

”You’re just… You’re definitely not going to get back with Daisy?”

Lance pulled a face, “Daisy and I broke up for a reason, perhaps I’m better trying to forget about her, and Rebecca seemed to like me.”

“She was pretty cute,” Vincent nodded, “I suppose as long as you’re happy and Daisy’s happy, it’s not really my business.”

Lance smiled to the boy, he looked at the number on the back of his hand and approached the desk, “is there a pen and paper there?”

”Yes, but I’m not passing it to you, I only have one working arm thanks to you.”

”It’s temporary.”

”It’s permanant, actually,” Vincent pouted, “my shoulder will never be the same.”

Lance laughed and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper form the desk, he jotted down the number and placed it in his pocket, “now I just need to get a new phone.”

“She did seem quite keen of you,” Vincent smiled to the psychologist, “congratulations.”

“Thanks, as soon as I can, I’m getting a phone,” he laughed as he sat down on the sofa again, then he let his smiled fall again, “I can’t believe Magnus has gone… It doesn’t seem right,” he fidgeted and crossed one leg over the other, “they kidnap us so they can kill Magnus, it has to be linked - right?”

Vincent shrugged, “I imagine so.”

* * * * *

Simon looked up from the platform when two people walked into the lab, he was surprised to see his mother and sister walk in almost hesitantly. He looked over to Jace and quickly excused himself. He then ran down the steps and over to his mother and sister.

“Hey! What on earth are you guys doing here?”

”What? We can’t visit you at work?” Elaine frowned and crossed her arms.

“Well, usually, the visits are scheduled, and it’s not exactly ethical for you guys to be in the lab whilst we’re undergoing a murder investigation,” he went quiet on the last part, Rebecca went wideeyed in realisation.

“Oh, is it that FBI guy?” She asked with a sad look on her face, “they were talking about it on the news, in fact I’m pretty sure I saw you in the background of the news report.”

”Oh God, those fucking news reporters.”

”Language, Simon.”

”No, mom, come on, it’s totally justified,” Rebecca waved her hand, she smiled to her brother, “are you sure we can’t just hang around? I’ve always wanted to see the Brooklyn Institute, especially since you started working here.”

“Simon,” Jace called up from the platform, “get Sherlock or Jimmy Neutron to take care of them, they can give them a tour or something until you get some lunch.”

”Sherlock or Jimmy Neutron?” Rebecca raised an eyebrow.

Simon chuckled and held out his hands, “wait here, I’ll go get them.”

“Alright,” Rebecca pretended to know exactly what her brother was talking about, which did just mean she was nodding with wide eyes. She turned to her mother and smiled, “well, I look forward to meeting Sherlock and Jimmy Neutron.”

“Odd names,” she was pulling a face.

“No, mom, it’s a joke. They’re comparing people to fictional characters.”

”Ah,” Elaine nodded, “okay, that’s cute. Who’s Jimmy Neutron?”

”Oh my God mom! Come on! Simon and I used to watch Jimmy Neutron all the time, it’s what inspired Simon to get into science.”

”Oh, the kid with the big hair?” Elaine looked more than proud when she realised.

”Yes,” Rebecca laughed, “man, this place is absolutely gorgeous.”

”As gorgeous as that boy you were telling me about?”

Rebecca tried to hide her blush, “okay, mom, come on.”

”You know, I’ll have to meet him as soon as possible,” Elaine began to speak quickly, “bring him to ours before your first date, let me use my mom judgement. I could have a very thrilling conversation with him, perhaps about when you were younger.”

”Oh God no, if that was the case, I’d never want you meeting him.”

“Here we are,” Rebecca heard Simon’s voice and turned around slowly as he continued to speak, “our very own Sherlock and Jimmy Neutron, Vincent Nigel-Murray and-”

”Lance!” Rebecca looked at the psychologist who was staring at her with wide eyes, “I did not expect to see you again so soon.”

Simon looked at his sister with his eyebrows furrowed, “you’ve met?”

”We were speaking in the hospital waiting room,” Lance answered, not breaking eye contact with Rebecca, “you know, I had an inkling you were Simon’s sister - but then I thought you were to pretty to be related to him.”

Rebecca let out a snort of laughter, “oh that’s cute.”

“Looks like I’m meeting him after all,” Elaine taunted her daughter.

Simon scowled at Sweets and then looked to his mother and sister, “well, I’m going to get back to work before any more insults are thrown at me,” glared briefly at Sweets who was still looking at his sister.

Lance cleared his throat and finally broke eye contact with Rebecca, “well,” he smiled to Elaine, “hi, I’m Lance.”

“I’m Elaine, I’ve already heard pletny about you, Becca told me all about your beautiful brown eyes on the way here.”

”And just like that, I’m uncool,” Rebecca mumbled under her breath, “oh boy.”

“I never thought I’d flatter a girl whilst wearing a shirt covered in blood,” Lance commented with a quick laugh.

“Well, it’s good to see you out of one too,” Rebecca smiled, “a clean shirt looks very good on you.”

”Thanks.”

“Well, as precious as this is, I believe we should be taking the Lewises on a tour,” Vincent spoke up, tapping Lance on the shoulder as he did so, “shall we?”

”Yes,” Lance smiled to Rebecca, “so, a tour of the Institute, where do we start?”

“Where we are,” Vincent whispered to Lance, he pointed to the platform, “where Simon currently is, is our examination platform, we can’t go up there without scanning our ID cards, otherwise there’s a very loud alarm that goes off.”

“I have personally never heard the alarm,” Sweets shrugged, glancing to Rebecca again, “but I also don’t actually have access onto the platform,” he laughed, “I mean I came here from Washington just recently, as did Vincent.”

“Well I’m glad you came here,” Rebecca commented, awkwardly chuckling afterwards, “and I’m ridiculously glad you shot your friend in the shoulder.”

“Believe me, I’m glad I did too.”

“I’m not,” Vincent frowned, crossing his unharmed arm, as Rebecca, Lance, and Simon’s mother looked to him he pointed to his arm that was held up in a sling, “I’m the one with the busted shoulder, you wait until Dr. Brennan hears about it.”

”It’s not like I did it on purpose,” Sweets laughed softly to Vincent.

”I’m also glad,” Rebecca’s mother spoke up, “I’ve never known my daughter to fall so fast.”

”And for a man in a bloodied shirt,” Vincent tutted, he looked around and then waved to the girls as they began walking away, “ah, over here we have our own very personal prison where Dr. Sweets and I were being kept because we’re ‘unfit to work’,” he did airquotes with his spare hand.

“Regularly known as Dr. Lightwood’s office.”

”Dr. Lightwood,” Elaine smiled, “I’ve heard about him, Simon is always saying how smart he is, and gorgeous.”

Lance looked to Rebecca again who was looking curiously through the window, “unfortunately,” he began to speak, “Dr. Lightwood isn’t with us because he’s in mourning, the FBI agent that was killed was his boyfriend.”

“Oh,” Rebecca pressed her lips together, “I’m guessing everyone here knew him?”

“Yes, everybody worked alongside Magnus for a very long time, except from myself, Daisy, Lance and Wendell, speaking of which,” he looked around and saw the blond in question walking towards the lab, “they’re all yours Sweets, I have to speak to Wendell.”

”Alright, go get him tiger,” Lance patted Vincent on the back and then looked back to the mother and daughter, “ so, it’s not really that exciting around here to be honest, I’m not a tourguide either, I’m only really talented at psychology, piano and bass.”

“And looking good,” Elaine smiled to him, leading him to let out another brief laugh.

“Thanks. I can show you our resident forensic artist, she’s an artistic genius. She can take the skull of a victim and recreate their face. It’s how we manage identify victims. As long as they’re in the missing persons system, or if there’s any other way of finding them.”

”That is so cool,” Rebecca whispered.

“Sometimes the skulls aren’t complete so she has to complete them herself using statistics and stuff, it’s all really smart.”

Rebecca nodded, Elaine just flashed a smile before speaking, “you know, if you’d prefer just to talk to my daughter, I don’t mind waiting.”

Lance looked to Elaine shocked, “oh, uh… Well, no- I mean-”

“It’s cute, you two spend some time together. Is there somewhere I can sit and wait.”

”Uh… Y-yeah, I’ll take you there.”

He did so, Rebecca’s mother took a seat in the break area. A moment later, Lance and Rebecca awkwardly made their way back to the office where Vincent and Lance had been ‘held prisoner’. It was clear that Elaine was very eager for Lance and Rebecca to get together - and the pressure was embarrassingly awkward. They couldn’t exactly avoid eye contact of one another, and once they were inside the office they took a seat next to each other. It was silent to begin with, but it wasn’t too long until they began speaking again.

“I can’t believe you work with my brother, it’s such a small world.”

”I know right,” Lance nodded, he smiled to her, “your mom seemed to like me.”

”You’ve met my mom and we haven’t even been on a first date yet.”

“Yet?” Lance taunted, he nudged Rebecca and let out a laugh, “so you like me, huh?”

”You’re a terrible psychologist if you’ve only just realised,” Rebecca replied quickly, looking to Sweets immediately as though to challenge him.

“Well, I mean, I did kind of know. You wrote your number on my hand, so…”

“You looked cute, but you look cuter without blood on your face.”

Lance looked into Rebecca’s eyes, she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, Lance hated that his mind was moving so fast but perhaps Rebecca’s mother’s eager words would ease them along. He found that he did want to see much more of her. Suppose, it was going to be too fast though. For all he knew, Rebecca might have wanted to start something slowly.

“Can I come to yours tonight?” Rebecca asked quickly, “I kind of want to spend more time with you.”

“You know, I would love that,” Lance began slowly, he let out and awkward laugh, “but I don’t have a place right now, I’m kind of living in my car-”

”Come to mine then,” Rebecca offered, “you should definitely not be sleeping in your car. Heck, I don’t have a roomate yet, you can stay for a while.”

”Really? Even though you just met me?”

”You work with my brother, and if we don’t work out romantically, I’m always open to a platonic relationship.”

“I-”

”How about, you stay for a couple of days, test the waters? Then make up your mind.”

”If you’re sure.”

”I am, I’m getting lonely at my place, handsome company is always okay with me.”

And just like that, Lance had a place to stay and a shot at a romantic relationship. He was definitely okay wih that, and so - it seemed - was Rebecca.

* * * * *

There was something that none of the team were aware of, something nobody knew, it was happening at the time of their investigation. It was happening throughout everything, running at the same time. Something that they might never find out, or perhaps they would, but would it be too late? 

Whilst the body on the table was only bloody remains, there was something far more sinister happening across town.

In an old dishevelled building, perhaps one not too similar to the majority of the team, there was a devilish activity occuring. 

He was in pain, arms and feet tied together, mouth taped shut. Somehow he had become a victim to someone, someone that wanted him for a reason.

He was being held captive, but even though he was unable to move, the fact of the matter was - Magnus Bane was alive.


	13. The Comfort In The Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team deal with their grief in their own ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the gap in the updates! I've got a lot of college work going on at the moment, but at last I was able to update this chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it, I have many plans for the future!

Alec was wrapped up in his bed sheets, feeling more miserable than he had ever felt before - regularly, he’d be able to work no matter who the body was - but it was Magnus. He hadn’t even gotten the second date, because he was dead - and not that far away from where Alec had been. Perhaps Magnus was dying just as Alec was waking up with Lance and Vincent. Alec tugged the sheets closer to himself, it was painful, and he hated it. 

He kept his eyes closed, he didn’t want to think about it. He wanted to be safe and happy, fat chance of that happening any time soon. He was warm in his covers, but warmth didn’t stop the heartbreak. 

He had wished they had been given a chance to have more time together, but fate was clearly not on their side. Surely Magnus deserved this happiness with Alec, he truly did. He had fallen asleep briefly, and had a taunting dream where Magnus only faked his death. 

But death wasn’t easy to fake when the body had half of his face missing. It was Magnus’s body, it was a match. Why did he have to be the one who died? And who would have targeted the FBI agent.

His phone buzzed next to him, but then again his phone had been buzzing for what seemed like hours. Multiple notifications, most like Izzy and other members of the team checking up to see if he was okay. He didn’t want to tell them that he wasn’t, they didn’t need to worry.

Just hours beforehand he had been terrified of his own death, along with Lance and Vincent’s - he didn’t think about anybody else. 

Part of him would have loved comfort, but most of him just wanted to be alone. So he left the notifications alone, he could just sleep and be done with it. 

* * * * *

Simon smiled slightly as he approached Jace, “I just saw my mom and sister leave with Dr. Sweets.”

”Interesting.”

”I was meant to go to lunch with them but now they’re both more interested in Sweets. I think my sister has a thing for him,” Simon then added with a whisper, “it’s weird… I don’t know what to think of it to be honest. How do you think Daisy will react to it?”

”She’ll smile her way through it, she definitely still likes him. It’s good that they try to get over each other though, I mean they’ve been broken up for a little while, moving on isn’t a bad option.”

“But with my sister, of all people,” Simon mumbled.

“At least she’s keeping Dr. Sweets distracted,” Jace commented as he examined the cadaver, “it’s better than him poking around in this investigation. Keep the Washington Psychologist at ease.”

“He wouldn’t stop looking at her earlier when I tried to introduce them, but they had already met. I mean, he was literally just staring into her eyes.”

”Ah, young love,” Jace looked up with a smile, “are you still on for dinner?”

”Only if you are.”

”Of course I am,” Jace somewhat whispered, “we’d be a cuter couple than your sister and Sweets.”

Simon laughed loudly, making several people around the area jump, including Daisy who was rushing up to the platform, “Wendell’s making sure Vincent’s comfortable,” she rolled her eyes as she spoke, “I think we all know what that means.”

“Everyone’s fighting mourning by hooking up,” Jace scoffed, “first Sweets, no-”

”What?” Daisy cocked her head to the blond man.

Simon was glaring at Jace, and the blond realised the small mistake he had made, “uh,” he looked over to Daisy, “you know what, nevermind.”

Daisy frowned, “I don’t care, you know, as long as he’s okay.”

”I think he’s hooking up with my sister,” Simon gave Daisy a supportive smile, “he couldn’t stop looking in her eyes earlier.”

“That’s cute,” Daisy shrugged, “did you guys think I was going to go into a frenzy? Come on, I’m not some bridezilla - Lance and I did have a very good relationship, but now other people is probably the best option. Oh and don’t worry about the macho big brother act, Simon, Lance’s last name is Sweets for a reason.”

“Adorable,” Jace whispered.

“Does anybody know if Dr. Lightwood is okay?” Daisy changed the subject quickly, “I know this is obviously hard for him.”

”He will be Daisy, Alec is very strong. He most likely wants to be alone.”

”Well, Lance once told me that with most people, when they want to be alone, a deeper part of them is yearning for affection from others. He’s mourning someone who meant a lot to him, he should have somebody with him.”

“Don’t act like you know my brother, Ms. Wick,” Izzy scoffed as she made her way onto the platform, “if he was yearning for affection, he wouldn’t be ignoring my calls.”

Daisy furrowed her brows, “he might be asleep, or unconscious, or… We should really send someone to check on him.”

”Yes, send someone to the dragon’s lair,” Izzy rolled her eyes, she then looked directly at Daisy, “you can go if you want Ms. Wick, perhaps then we’ll be rid of one nuissance.”

“Lance said a lot of people project their mourning into anger, it’s okay Dr. Lightwood, you have friends wh-”

”Oh shut up with your secondhand psychology,” Izzy growled, “and stop talking about your ex-boyfriend, it’s no wonder he broke up with you if you were like this.”

”Izzy!” Jace glared at her, he then turned to Daisy with a soft expression, “would you be okay to go and check on Alec?” Daisy nodded, surprisingly still breathing calmly after Izzy’s words. Jace quickly gave her Alec’s address and once the intern rushed off, he looked back to Izzy who had her arms folded in an aggressive manner, “she’s right you know, you’re being aggressive because of Magnus.”

Izzy tied up her hair as she spoke, “I’m being aggressive because she’s an annoying twerp who can’t stop talking about a man that doesn’t love her, of course I’m upset about one of my best friends dying, but I’ve mostly just had enough of Daisy.”

“I like Daisy,” Simon admitted, “sure she’s bouncy and energetic, but she’s sweet.”

Izzy rolled her eyes, “sure,” she looked to Jace, “you just sent the most irritating person to Alec, so if she’s found dead, it’s on you.”

Jace furrowed his eyebrows at Izzy, “she’s going to be just fine.”

* * * * *

Daisy looked down at the address written on the scrap of paper and pulled a face as she looked at the door, Dr. Lightwood’s house was beautiful from the outside alone, she wondered if he had silk sheets lining his bed. She slowlylifted up her hand and knocked against the hard wood. After the fourth knock, she listened out for movement. She really needed to know if Dr. Lightwood was okay. After a moment, she heard a door inside the house opening, and then there were footsteps.

She stepped back from the door and stood up straight, trying to keep a neutral expression. The door opened and Alec stood there in a bathrobe, looking like misery as a person. 

“Dr. Lightwood,” Daisy let a smile show on her face, “I uh… Came to check you were okay. Are you? Okay?”

Alec shrugged, “I am, in some ways. How did you know where I live?”

”Dr. Wayland told me. I want to help you, I know his is going to be difficult for you, so let me stay and help. I make a great hot cocoa,” she patted her bag that was by her side, “I’ve got all my ingredients.”

Alec looked at the girl, after a moment of silence he gave in and opened the door further, “you should really be investigating though.”

”Izzy doesn’t want me around. I think she’s an aggressive mourner.”

Alec let out a slight laugh, which did surprise Daisy ever so slightly, “that sounds about right. I love Izzy to pieces but… She’s an angry sad person.”

Daisy pressed her lips together just before smiling, “you know, Dr. Lightwood, I know it’s not exactly the same level, but I’m kind of upset that Lance has found someone new. I shouldn’t be letting it get to me but… I’m still slightly upset, and it sucks. It’s not as bad as your loss but… Perhaps we can be sad and lonely together.”

Alec continued to smile to Daisy, “yeah, I guess we can do that.”

Daisy almost squealed with excitement, “awesome, so I’m guessing the hot cocoa talked you around.”

“I do like the sound of it I must admit,” he tugged on the bathrobe that was around him, “I should get dressed.”

”I don’t mind,” Daisy lauged as she pulled a face, “I’ve seen far worse than you.”

“Ms. Wick, you know I’m gay, right? You’re not coming onto me?”

”Just because I’m single and upset about Lance moving on, does not mean I’ll jump on a gay man,” Daisy held up her hand, “we can be friends though, so I’ll make some hot cocoa and we can watch a movie! Do you have Netflix?”

Alec nodded, “yeah. Izzy made me get it so she could watch it when she comes over, but-”

”Awesome,” Daisy clapped her hands together, “when I was upset about Lance and I breaking up, I spent a good five hours with Netflix, and sevral hot cocoas and a tub of ice cream.”

“That sound really unhealthy, Daisy.”

“Sometimes, the only cure to sorrow is to be unhealthy,” Daisy stated, she looked around curiously, “where’s your kitchen and I’ll get making these hot cocoas.”

”Come with me.”

Alec led her to the kitchen as asked, he stood in the door as Daisy walked in, he smiled as she set down her bag. Any other time he would probably hesitate to be kind to Daisy, but she was the person who came to see if he was okay. She really did want to care for him, not that the others didn’t, but she was making the effort. 

“Actually,” Alec spoke up after a moment, he crossed his arms as Daisy looked over her shoulder, “how is Lance holding up?”

“I think he’s trying to focus on everything else. He seems lost though, they don’t want any help with the investigation, I don’t know why. Oh, and he met a girl when he was waiting for Vincent at the hospital, so sh’s a bit of a distraction for him. Not that Rebecca is just a distraction, I didn’t mean it to sound like th-”

”I get it,” Alec nodded, “so… his romantic life is taking off?”

”Don’t get me wrong, he is definitely distraught about Magnus, but I suppose if there’s a pretty girl around you need to seem strong.”

Alec rolled his eyes and smiled at the intern, “he’s a nice guy, isn’t he?”

”Yeah,” Daisy nodded quickly in agreement, “and I think Rebecca is a nice girl, she seems it.”

Alec hummed, “you can be the jealous ex if you want to be.”

”I don’t want to be, I want to be a friend.”

“Fair enough.”

Alec closed his eyes for a moment, in that moment the only thing that ran through his head was Magnus, well, mostly Magnus’s body. He opened his eyes again and was treated to the sight of Daisy holding two mugs looking at him with her wide eyes.

“You looked like you had fallen asleep there for a moment, Dr. Lightwood.”

“I think I did,” Alec mumbled, “I thought I closed my eyes for a second.”

“It was a bit longer than that,” Daisy offered Alec his mug, “come on, let’s go choose a film, or TV show, whichever you’d prefer.”

Alec shrugged, “I don’t rally watch TV or films to be honest, I don’t see the point.”

Daisy made her way over to Alec’s sofa, she knew Alec was following her, he could hear him - of course he would follow her, he wouldn’t stay standing there whilst she roamed through his house. She sat down and looked up at him, “this is going to be exciting.”

* * * * *

Izzy made her way into Clary’s room, crossing her arms and grumbling as she approached the redhad, “I don’t think I can do this Clary, I don’t think I can handle his death. I was so stubborn and standoffish to him at times, I should have been nicer.”

“We can’t change the past, Izzy.”

“Yeah but if we could, I would,” she crossed her arms, “fucking Wendell and Vincent are probably going to hook up, Dr. Sweets looks like he wants to get with Simon’s sister - oh and I’m pretty sure Jace and Simon are getting it on soon.”

Clary shrugged, “let the people get on with it.”

”Magnus is dead! And all these people care about is fucking making out with others!”

Clary dropped her hands and stared at Izzy, “some people cope by focusing on the positives, and not getting pissed at others for living their life. Izzy, I love you, but they obviously all feel comfortable with people, and if a move is made, then so be it, let them live.”

Izzy frowned, “whilst we’re in mourning,” she then rolled her eyes, “I can’t believe it, and I can’t believe that you’d agree with that behaviour.”

Clary pulled a face and let out a scoff, “do you remember when you first asked me out?”

Izzy looked into the redhead’s eyes, “of course.”

”We were stood on the platform, over the body of a dead child, I was upset and you said to me ‘would it make you happier if I took you out to dinner later’.”

A flash of guilt went across Izzy’s face.

”So don’t you dare get hypocritical, we went on our first date because of a dead child, other people are finding their love because of a dead friend, it happens sometimes!”

Izzy nodded slowly, “you’re right, the same thing happened with us.”

* * * * *

Magnus struggled in his restraints once again, he was blindfolded to make the whole thing worse. He hated being in this situation, he had experienced similar things before, but probably not as bad as this. He pulled on the restraints, he should have known how to escape but whoever it was that had caught him had obviously done their research.

“The three men are out,” an unusual voice commented quietly.

“Did you find out the identity of the other two men?” Another voice asked, one that sounded bitter and harsh.

“No,” the voice admitted in defeat, “only Dr. Alexander Lightwood.”

Alec? Magnus tried to move quicker, somebody had obviously seen him react.

“Why did you have to go and say that?” The harsh voice hissed, “such an amateur, get out of my face and only come back when you find out the identities of the other men, you need to be aware of the crimes you pull off!”

“Yes ma’am,” the younger sounding voice responded quitly and then Magnus heard footsteps rushing away.

“Now, Magnus,” The harsh voice approached him, “we’re going to have a lot of fun together, fun we should have been having for a long time.”

If that didn’t scare him, he didn’t know what would.

* * * * *

Jace discovered that dinner with Simon was the most entertaining and relaxing thing he could be involved in, it took his mind off the murder and instead set it on the smile that Simon wore. 

Perhaps it was wrong since Simon was an intern, but the chemistry was undeniable, it was there, and it was pure. The younger man sat at the other side of his dining table, chuckling about the story he had just told. Jace smiled fondly, Simon’s laugh was a wonderful thing to hear.

“I get it,” Simon mumbled eventually, “like with Sweets and Rebecca, they hit it off… I thought perhaps it was odd for him to fall so soon after the death of his friend but… It’s comforting.”

Jace nodded in agreement, “you’re right. It’s strange, but it’s nice… Being able to be together, comforting each other,” he placed his hand across the table, Simon understood the invitation and placed his hand over Jace’s.

“You worked with Magnus longer than I did… if you need to talk about it - please do.”

Jace shook his head, “I’m just… I’m just going to treat it as a murder that needs to be solved, then when we’ve solved it, I’ll mourn more.”

”Fair enough,” Simon nodded, he lifted his glass, “to Magnus Bane.”

”To Magnus Bane.”


	14. The Break In The Case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clary and Jace figure out their first and main suspect of their case, however several members of the team refuse to believe it. A distant friend is called in to assist with the case.

It had been 12 days, 3 hours and 37 minutes since Magnus’s estimated time of death, and Alec was making his way back into the lab. It was evident to everybody that he wasn’t okay, but he had to work. 

He was surprised when Clary ran past him, up to the plaform without scanning her card and practically screamed at Jace, “I’ve checked again, again, and again! It’s a perfect match, Jace. They’re all a perfect match!”

Alec scanned his card to stop the alarm, he watched as Jace seemed more than unhappy with her news, “are you kidding me?”

“No, I keep checking in hope that it’s not true. But the bullets match and there’s only one set of prints on the gun.”

“Give your information to Luke,” Jace seemed to drop all he was doing, “I’ll go confront the bastard.”

Alec cocked his head as he scanned his card once again and approached the platform, “what’s this about?”

Clary looked to Alec and forced a smile, “a crack in the case, Dr. Lightwood.”

“You think you know who it is?”

Clary nodded slowly, “yes, but we can’t exactly say anything about it, not right now,” she pulled a face, “sorry, Dr. L.”

“Why can’t you tell me? It was my partner who was murdered, you know I’d only find out in my own time.”

Jace shook his head as he passed Alec, “I’m handling this one, Dr. Lightwood, you shouldn’t even be here.”

”But you’re the flesh expert, not the bones expert. I’m the bones expert.”

“And I also have a team of three interns from Washington,” Jace replied quickly, “we have it under control.”

Alec frowned as the blond rushed away, Clary soon disappeared as well, Alec sighed and moved towards the cadaver. He had a sad smile on his face as he looked down at the skeletal remains of his now lost love.

“I miss you,” he whispered, “I know we barely had anytime together as partners but, I think of you as… The love of my life, because I never saw anybody the way I saw you. It’s weird, isn’t it? It’s always too late when you realise how you felt,” obviously there was no response, but Alec knew what Magnus’s answers would be, “yeah, I know you realised what we had - but you’re more romantically knowledged than I am… You were.” He sighed and placed his hand over Magnus’s, he felt the warm sting of tears in his eyes as his fingers touched Magnus’s bones, “I love you, I really do.”

He closed his eyes and then slowly stood up, sniffing in hopes of getting rid of the tears. He made his way around the table and looked down at the remains. Alec saw remodelled fractures throughout the man’s body, “remodelled fracture on the radius and ulna,” he chuckled slightly, “of course, your mishap at the death metal concert when you were eighteen, and the matching fracture to the proximal phalanx, he moved down to the toes, the fracture was on the opposite foot to hand. He paused for a moment, but then continued to examine the body, “remodelled fracture to the fibula, where’d you get that from? Prepubescent. Perhaps you played soccer as a kid?” He crouched down and let out a small chuckle, “there’s still so much I don’t know about you,” he closed his eyes, “I wish this wasn’t real.”

* * * * *

Lance opened his eyes slowly, it had been just under two weeks since he met Rebecca but here he was in her bed (after having a the seventh night of amazing sex) with one arm draped over her. He shuffled closer to her (as though that was possible) and pressed a kiss on the back of her shoulder before moving away again. He slowly got up from the bed, trying not to wake her. Once he was up on his feet he looked back to her, she was rolling over and looking at him.

“Morning sunshine,” Rebecca shuffled closer to Lance.

“Morning,” Lance replied, he grabbed a shirt from the drawer, he looked around as he unfolded the shirt.

Rebecca then asked, quietly, “how are you feeling today?”

”I feel… I feel alright, obviously still affected by it all,” he went silent as he pulled on a shirt, “it’s hard,” he eventually whispered as he started buttoning the shirt, “but it’s best for me to delve into work.”

“Alright,” Rebecca nodded, “I get it, don’t bury your friend, bury yourself in work, get home and then bury yourself in your girlfriend.”

Lance laughed and looked over to her, “that’s exactly it,” he joked. 

“Have they found out anything yet?”

Lance shrugged, “Luke is back working with them for this case and they’re barely letting me know anything - it’s bugging me, you know? I can help them, but I just feel useless.”

“Maybe you should stay at home then,” Rebecca commented absent-mindedly, she went to speak again but silenced when there was a knock on the door. Lance was still stood in the middle of the room with only a half buttoned up shirt and underwear.

Rebecca held out her hand, “can you pass me my bathrobe?”

Lance nodded and quickly retrieved the robe for her, he smiled as he threw it across the room to her. The visitors knocked again, “they seem eager.”

”It’s probably Mrs. Duncan asking me to feed her cats tomorrow,” she rolled her eyes and pulled on the robe. She stood up and tied the robe together before curiously leaving her bedroom. Lance followed her, stopping just shy of the view of the doorway since he was still in his underwear.

“Simon?” Rebecca was clearly shocked, “what are you doing here? Don’t you have to be at work like right now?”

”I am at work,” Simon answered.

“We need to speak to Dr. Sweets,” Lance heard Jace’s voice and slowly made his way to the door, suddenly not caring that he only had underwear on his bottom half.

”What is it?”

”Dr. Sweets,” of course Luke was there too, “we’d like to take you in for questioning.”

”What?” Lance looked at the men, and then to Rebecca who was giving him a worried look. 

“Your gun was used to kill Magnus Bane,” Luke moved into the home, “and the only prints on the gun were yours. I mean, tell me… What am I supposed to think of an FBI Psychologist who has an unissued firearm on his person?”

Lance protested immediaely, “I was unconscious at Magnus’s time of death, you know that.”

“No, we don’t,” Jace responded, crossing his arms, “and neither do Alec or Vincent. In fact nobody knows who really was unconscious at the time of Magnus’s death.”

Lance shook his head, “th-this is ridiculous, why would I-”

“Come on,” Luke placed his hand on Lance’s back, “don’t make me cuff you.”

Luke led Lance out of Rebecca’s home, Lance looked back at Rebecca who was being spoken to by Simon. 

It wasn’t until Lance was sitting in the back of the car that he realised he was still in his underpants, “are you going to give me some pants when we get to the interrogation room? Because there are some in my office, that sounds weird but it’s true.”

“I’d prefer you to stay uncomfortable in your underpants,” Jace replied in a low voice.

Lance shifted in the seat, “thanks.”

* * * * *

Simon stayed with Rebecca, he knew shed need some comforting - her new boyfriend had just been taken in for murder. 

Rebecca looked at her brother, curiously, she shook her head, “even I know he didn’t do it.”

”His fingerprints were the only ones on the gun, Becca.”

”Yeah,” Rebecca rolled her eyes and scoffed, “God, have you guys ever heard of gloves?”

”Clary’s done all she can and she couldn’t find evidence of anything else.”

“Lance is innocent,” Rebecca crossed her arms, “does Ms. Wick know that you suspect him?”

Simon shook his head, “n-no, why would that matter?”

”Because she knows him more than anybody else at your lab, if you don’t trust me, trust her. Or even call up Seeley Booth. No, no. Call up Dr. Temperance Brennan, everyone at the Jeffersonian!”

“Rebecca, he’s a psychologist, he could probably trick anybody’s mind into believing he’s innocent.”

Rebecca turned away, “whatever, science people always think they can’t trust people - except the psychologists of course. Tell me, Simon, why on earth Lance would kill his high school best friend?”

“You’ll be surprised at the reasons for murder, Rebecca.”

”You haven’t even been working there that long, Simon, you can’t just-”

”So far, he’s the main suspect, Rebecca,” Simon interrupted Rebecca quickly, “and until he’s proven inncent, you and him aren’t going to be together anytime soon.”

Rebecca scowled at her brother and before Simon could leave she stepped in front of the door, “are you doing this because you’re trying to go all psycho brother on Lance? Because it’s pathetic.”

”All the evidence points to him Rebecca, I’m sorry.”

* * * * * 

Alec was walking out of the lab, hoping to go for a peacefull walk, when he bumped into Vincent and Wendell - both of which seemed shocked.

“Dr. Lightwood, I believe that Jace and Simon have made a grave mistake in their hypothesis,” Vincent rushed out, “the gun used to kill the victim-”

“Magnus,” Alec corrected.

Vincent paused and corrected himself, “Magnus, the gun used was apparently Lance’s - Ms. Fray said it was a perfect match, the only DNA found on the gun was… Well it was Dr. Sweets’s. I don’t believe that at all, Lance Sweets is strong - but not strong enough to kill a man who hadn’t done wrong. The worst thing he’s ever done in his entire life is probably almost have intercourse with another girl whilst dating Daisy.”

Wendell looked to Vincent with a raised eyebrow, “he did that?”

“The woman was like a siren, according to Mr. Fisher,” Vincent commented quickly, “but Dr. Sweets got no way involved with her, Fisher swapped wih him before he could, although he did keep turning her down. She continued to advance on him, no matter what.”

Alec nodded slowly, “so they think Lance killed Magnus?”

”Yes, but I want to prove that they’re wrong.”

“Dr. Sweets was unconscious at the time of death.”

“They think he was faking it,” Wendell sighed, “I don’t think any of us understand the concept.”

Alec frowned, “after the story he told us, I highly doubt he’d want to hurt Magnus… Unless it was a lie - I’m not good at reading people.”

“Dr. Gordon Wyatt,” Wendell clicked his fingers as he spoke, “he spoke to Brennan and Booth about Sweets, he was a psychologist too, he knew that Sweets is a good person - and he could tell you exactly the same thing now.”

Vincent nodded with a smile, “Dr. Lightwood, I propose that us three re-examine the evidence.”

“I’d like Ms. Wick to lead it,” Alec looked to the boys, “all three of you are very talented. Have it be the three of you working on it, I’m going to speak to Clary about it.”

Vincent and Wendell looked disheartened, “you want Daisy to lead it?” Vincent asked quickly, “not one of us?”

“Whilst I know you two believe Lance’s innocence, I know Ms. Wick won’t let anything stop her from proving his innocence.”

“Favourtism,” Vincent scoffed to Wendell.

“Get over it,” Wendell chuckled to Vincent, “Dr. Lightwood makes the final decision and I think that it’s a good one, Daisy being in charge - she’ll stop at nothing to prove Sweets’s innocence.”

”Fine,” Vincent sighed, crossing his arms as he gave in.

Alec smiled to the two boys, and pulled out his phone to call Clary, he nodded for them to go into the Institute. They soon disappeared and after a moment Clary answered the call.

“Dr. Lightwood! Hello, what do yo-”

“Do I have permission to look through the evidence you’ve gathered from the case? I just want to find out everything I can.”

”Of course.”

“Clary…”

”Yes?”

”Do you really believe that Lance is guilty?”

”Dr. Lightwood, it’s hard to argue with the evidence. Lance’s gun, his fingerprints being the only ones on the gun - that’s not hard science for anybody.”

Alec nodded slowly, he looked to the side where Simon’s sister had appeared without her brother, he quickly excused himself form the call and made his way over to her, she was obviously concerned for Lance, “Rebecca, I heard they took Lance in for questioning.”

She nodded and crossed her arms, “yeah, I don’t know why - but the instant I got away from my brother, I came to the one place he’ll probably end up going to, his job,” she rolled her eyes and then reached into her pocket, “what side are you on?”

Alec looked around and moved closer, “I believe Dr. Sweets is innocent, from a…” He seemed to struggle before rolling his eyes, “from a psychological point of view, it makes no sense.”

Rebecca began to grin, “well if _the_ Dr. Lightwood sees the logical side, then surely everybody else should.”

“The key word there, Ms. Lewis, is should.”

Rebecca pulled a phone out of her pocket and held it up to show Alec, “this is Lance’s phone, I want your permission to call in someone.”

“Who?”

”Dr. Jack Hodgins. Luckily for me, Lance had sorted out all of his contacts onto his new phone before your team arrested him.”

Alec pulled a face, “Rebecca, I already have the three Washington interns examining the body for proof of his innocence.”

”The body,” she nodded, “those interns are trained to examine the bodies, Dr. Jack Hodgins can look into the other evidence, you can work with him if you’re unsure.”

Alec began to smile again, he looked around and gave a nod, “yes but we’ll have to make sure the Brooklyn team have no idea this is happening. I’ll need to find a way to keep my sister, Clary, and Simon pre-occupied whenever Dr. Hodgins comes.”

Rebecca shrugged, “give them a break from work, say they don’t have to be there. I’ll spend the day with them all and keep them occupied until Hodgins is done - I’m good at acting.”

Alec smiled at the girl, “okay, call him up and ask him when he can be here.”

Rebecca did as instructed, she unlocked Lance’s phone (he had already trusted her with that information, knowing trust was a key ingredient in a healthy relationship) and quickly scrolled through the contacts - once she found Jack Hodgins, she called the number. After the fourth ring, there was an answer, but Rebecca couldn’t speak before Dr. Hodgins was cheerfully talking through the loudspeaker.

_“Sweets! Hey we were just talking about you, only in the best of ways of course. Get this, Booth actually admitted he misses you, although that might be because he needs someone to bully.”_

“This isn’t Lance,” Rebecca interrupted before he could speak anymore, “it’s his girlfriend, Rebecca.”

_“Oh, Rebecca. Hey, yeah I’ve heard about you, is Sweets alright?”_

“Not exactly,” Alec spoke up, “this is Dr. Lightwood by the way, Rebecca requested I enquire you about coming to the Brooklyn Institute, to investigate some evidence.”

Hodgins seemed clearly confused by the equiry, _”don’t you have your own team at the Institute?”_

“I do, but they all believe that Lance murdered my boyfriend, his high school best friend,” Alec explained, there was a moment of silence where Hodgins was clearly processing the news. Then laughter.

_”Sorry, Dr. Lightwood, your team actually believes that Lance Sweets is capable of murder? That’s hilarious. Cute, and hilarious.”_

”Dr. Hodgins,” Rebecca spoke with a hissed tone, “this is serious, are you free to come to Brooklyn to investigate the evidence and prove Lance’s innocence?”

_”Yes I’m free, and yes I’ll do it - man, who knew the Brooklyn team were so bad.”_

“They’re merely misled because the death was of the FBI agent we worked closely with - I’m sure your team would be the same if someone close to you died.”

_”I suppose we were a little bit off when Booth faked his death and we didn’t know about it. I can probably get to Brooklyn today, as long as I can help Lance.”_

“Awesome,” Rebecca chuckled slightly, “well, Dr. Lightwood will wait for you at the Institute whilst I keep the team pre-occupied.”

_”Alright, I’ll call this phone when I land in Brooklyn, okay?”_

”Okay,” Rebecca responded, “I’ll be seeing you later if all goes well, Dr. Hodgins.”

* * * * *

“Agent Booth would have at least given them some spare sweatpants to wear,” Lance mumbled as he shifted in the seat, “and I did say please, multiple times.”

Jace rolled his eyes at the psychologist, “would you say it’s true that at discomfort, people are more honest?”

”No, in fact in discomfort people will shy away from revealing anything, the point of an interrogation is not to discomfort the suspect but to ween them into confessing. I’ll forgive you though, seeing as you usually stay in the lab.”

“Wouldn’t it be wise not to be cocky towards the one who’s interrogating you?”

”Okay, stop trying to use psychology on me, you’re doing it wrong, and it’s hard not to be cocky - you made me sit here in my underpants whilst you ask me pointless questions that are nothing to do with the investigation! I’ll help you out by retelling my steps at the time. I left the bar with Vincent, to go get my bag so I could go to Magnus’s-”

”Why didn’t you leave with Magnus,” Luke leaned forward, “so you had time to get your gun from your car without him knowing?”

”Vincent was with me, he knows I was getting my bag. I grabbed my gun because I heard the sound of a taser - of course the past with the Gravedigger, I had to be prepared. So I grabbed the gun which I keep in my car - I haven’t had the time to test for an issued firearm, I had it with me in case anything bad ever happened.”

“Sweets,” Luke narrowed his eyes, “surely you can see why we think you’re guilty.”

”Not really.”

”It adds up, you stay behind with Vincent, go to the car to ‘grab your bag’ so he’d have the same alibi story for you. Someone else is working with you, hence you’ve timed it perfectly. You go to ‘save the day’ and pretend to get tasered until you’re sure Mr. Nigel-Murray is unconscious. When they’re placed in the container, you lure Magnus out to it, shoot him and then lock yourself back in the container.”

”It locked from the outside, hence we couldn’t get out.”

“So who was working with you? Daisy?”

Lance’s eyes were wide and he began to chuckle, “are you… Are you actually serious? Myself and Daisy? Criminal masterminds? Look, I worked with Dr. Brennan, don’t you think if I were to commit a murder I would know what to do - I wouldn’t use my own gun and I would wear gloves. I would keep the weapon somewhere nobody would find it. But my fingerprints were on it and it was my gun - it was a set up.”

Jace nodded slowly as though he cared for what Lance had to say.

“How about I just tell you everything about myself and Magnus from the beginning? If you know about my friendship with him, you’d know that I didn’t kill him.”

Luke grunted slightly, “go on then, Dr. Sweets, give us the full story.”

Lance sighed and began retelling the key events between himself and Magnus, “when we met, he kind of hit me with his car - I was running away from some bullies. I became best friends with him and Camille and we did plenty of stuff together. They took me to my first ever death metal concert, and then that same night Magnus ended up with his first ever broken bone.”

Jace paused and looked across to Lance with narrowed eyes, “his first broken bone? How old was he?”

”Eighteen.”

Jace leaned to Luke and whispered something that Lance didn’t hear, he then looked back at the psychologist, “and you’re sure that was the first time he broke a bone?”

“Yes.”

”Simon must have gotten it wrong,” Luke whispered to Jace, but this time Lance heard it.

”Gotten what wrong?”

”Nothing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THAT'S RIGHT PEOPLE, HODGINS IS GONNA BE IN THE HOUSE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER - AND BOY IS HE WITTY AF.


	15. The King In The Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Jack Hodgins arrives to Brooklyn to assist in proving Dr. Sweets's innocence, will he be successful?

The cab arrived outside of the Brooklyn Institute and Jack stepped out, he paid the driver and then pulled his bag onto his shoulder, letting out a sigh as he did so. The thing he felt the worst for was leaving Angela in Washington - she was pregnant and he wasn’t there for her. He approached the steps and paused when he saw Dr. Alec Lightwood appear from the door.

“Thank you for coming Dr. Hodgins.”

“As I said, I’m here for Dr. Sweets,” Jack smiled to Alec, “and to prove that the Jeffersonian is better than the Brooklyn Institute.”

Alec was smiling slightly, “it’s only because the Washington group don’t want Lance Sweets to be guilty.”

”Whilst the Brooklyn lot do,” Jack nodded, he narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, “such fine workmanship.”

Alec pulled a face and hummed, “come inside, Dr. Hodgins.”

Jack quickly followed Alec through the doors of the Institute, it was a similar layout to the Jeffersonian, on the examination platform Jack saw he three interns he had actually missed, Wendell, Vincent, and Daisy.

“Hodgins!” Wendell called when he noticed the guest, “what are you doing here?”

Alec shushed Wendell quickly, “don’t tell the Brooklyn team he’s here, he’s going to help look at the evidence for Lance’s case whilst you three examine the body.”

Jack nodded to the group and then raised his eyebrows,”it’s nice to see you three are trusted together,” he let out a quick laugh and then followed Alec who waved him into another room. 

“This is Clary’s room, she’s been looking at the evidence,” he looked around and saw the evidence scattered across several desks, he pointed to a gun which was placed with the evidence, “that’s Lance’s gun - there was no other DNA on it other than Lance’s.”

”But she neglected to look for anything other than DNA,” he tutted, “amateurs.”

“Dr. Hodgins, I would appreciate it if you stopped mocking my team.”

”As soon as they stop thinking Lance is guilty.”

Alec nodded and looked at the various pieces of evidence whilst Jack put on a pair of gloves, he cocked his head when he saw a piece of paper that had been unfolded. On it was a sequence of letters and numbers.

_AGL-HDM512-050717-1530_

“What does that mean?” Hodgins asked after Alec spoke the letter out loud, “I mean it doesn’t seem like any code I’ve seen before.”

Alec shrugged, “me neither,” he paused and pressed his lips together, “although… the first three letters are my initials. AGL, Alec Gideon Lightwood.”

“In which case,” Hodgins looked over Alec’s shoulder at the night, “this note is definitely for you.”

”Obviously,” Alec nodded, “but I have no idea what HDM means.”

Hodgins pulled a face, he pointed to the six numbers that were in a row, “that’s todays date.”

“The last four digits might be a time…”

“In which case you have half an hour to figure out what HDM512 means.”

Alec nodded and stared at the paper as Hodgins picked up the gun curiously, he narrowed his eyes as he looked closely at the firearm. Alec in the meantime contined to look at the letters and numbers. 

Hodgins had managed to fully focus on the firearm, tuning out the rest of his surroundings - it was like a sixth sense for Hodgins, being able to focus intently on the evidence he needed to examine. It didn’t take him long to spot it, a miniscule flake on the triggr. He made sure to be gentle as he took the flake from the trigger. He quickly used the surrounding equipment to case the flake and then examine it through a microscope. It was placed underneath the lense and he shook his head and let out a laugh, “in less than five minutes, Jack finds a crack in the case,” he spoke about himself in third person and then turned around prepared to let Alec know of his new finding. However, Alec wasn’t in the room anymore - and Hodgins had no clue when he had left. He simply shrugged it off and examined the flake through the microscope.

He examined it for a few minutes before somebdy else entered the room, he looked up to Vincent who had a curious look on his face.

“Bright blue faux leather,” Jack answered the unasked question, “somebody was wearing gloves when they used Lance’s gun to kill Magnus.”

”Except they didn’t,” Vincent responded quickly, he had his arms crossed and a smile appeared on his face.

”What?”

”Well, did you know that-”

“Before you continue, how relevant is this fact?”

”Very relevant,” Vincent nodded quickly, he took a breath before continuing, “did you know that there are many cases of identical twins that were seperated at birth who share striking similarities. For instance, there were two men who were split at birth and both adopted by families. Amazingly, both families named the boys James, with the nickname Jim. In both of their childhoods, they each had a dog named Toy, they both married twice. The women that they married had the same names, first there was Linda and then they were married to Bettys. They even drove the same brand of car. There’s a pair of twins who both fell down the stairs at age fifteen and weakened their ankles, they both met their future husbands at town dances at age sixteen, they both mimscarried in the same year and then even had the same gendered children in the same order. They both even had a habit of pushing up their nose with the palm of their hands, and they both each called it ‘squidging’, isn’t that brilliant?”

Hodgins looked at the boy in amazement, “that actually is quite fascinating… But what does it have to do with anything?”

“Oh, right! Well, get this. The person we have out their on the platform broke their left fibula when they were eight years old.”

”Right?”

”When Lance and I were going to the hospital, he extended the story of his time with Magnus, and he informed me that when Magnus broke his wrist and toe at the age of eighteen, it was the first time he broke a bone. Although, Ms. Fray did a facial reconstruction and it was clearly Magnus…”

Dr. Hodgins was wide eyed, “so…”

”Sweets also told us that Magnus was adopted at a young age, there’s nothing to say that he didn’t have a twin - so I believe that the body we have is the identical twin of Magnus Bane.”

Hodgins rushed towards Vincent and hugged him, “you’re a genius! In fact we both are, we need to tell Dr. Lightwood what we found. Where is he?”

“He ran out of here about ten minutes ago, he was holding a piece of paper so I assumed he had to pick up drycleaning or something…”

Jack looked around at the table of evidence suddenly, he knew instantly that Alec didn’t have to pick up any drycleaning, “he must have figured it out, and then without a word decided to run off,” he sighed and looked at Vincent, “how are you lot surviving here?”

”That’s kind of the point, they arrested one of us for a murder he didn’t commit of a man who isn’t the dead body.”

Jack clapped his hands together, “we need to go get Lance out.”

* * * * * 

Rebecca smiled as she sat opposite Clary, Simon was sat next to her and Isabelle was next to Clary, “thank you,” she spoke up eventually, “this is definitely what I need right now, to take my mind off of Lance and try to get back into the real world,” she sighed, “Simon I’m sorry I got mad at you.”

“It’s alright Becky, I know it’s hard.”

“It sucks,” she groaned, “because I thought ‘I’ve found an adorable man, an adorable man who is literally a sex God in bed’. I’m serious, I’ve never had a man who made sure I had an orgasm every time we had sex - he would genuinly do anything he could. Fuck, it was ama-”

”Please stop,” Simon groaned.

”Becky has a point, most men don’t know what women want,” Clary commented as she picked up a fry, “hence I say, stick to the ladies.”

“Amen to that,” Izzy whispered.

Rebecca snorted out a laugh, “actually, I once dated a girl who had no idea what she was doing with me-”

”What?” Simon looked to Rebecca with a confused face, “Becky I had no idea that you we-”

”Well now you do,” Rebecca interrupted, she gave a shrug and grinned, she looked back to Clary and Izzy, “so not all girls know what girls want.”

”That sucks” Izzy groaned, “what kind of girl doesn’t… Oh my God.”

Rebecca was glad that this conversation could distract them, and going out to a late lunch was a perfect opportunity. She wondered how things were going down at the lab, but of course if she were to call up and ask they’d know something would be up. She continued to smile with them, and of course the pain across Simon’s face when she spoke aboutt her sex life was hilarious.

“So he like, went all hands on with you after he finished?” Izzy questioned.

“Sometimes hands on, sometimes there was tongue involved.”

”Oh my God!” Simon hid his face and placed his hands over his ears.

“A man who isn’t afraid to give oral,” Izzy nodded with approval.

“Who’s also a man who isn’t afraid to kill his high school best friend,” Clayr brought the mood down again, “I’m sorry, Becky. It’s really sad that he’s capable of something like this.”

”Yeah,” Rebecca sighed - she really couldn’t wait until Hodgins proved Lance’s innocence.

* * * * * 

Lance was still in the interrogation room, but he was alone, he knew they were watching him through the two way mirror - he was after all experienced with interrogations. He leaned back in the chair and hummed out of boredom. He couldn’t shake Jace’s odd reaction when he spoke about Magnus’s broken bones. Jace seemed confused and taken off guard. It was odd. 

He closed his eyes and hoped for the best, perhaps they’d realise, perhaps they’d let him go. He didn’t like being on the other side of things, he shifted in his seat and thought about the Brooklyn team - they had something against him if they weren’t willing to think he was innocent.

Magnus had been his best friend, why would he have killed him.

Nothing seemed to be right.

He clenched his fists as he thought about all it, he was barely ever angry, but this entire Brooklyn adventure was ridiculous now.

* * * * *

Jace and Luke were preparing to go back into the interrogation room, Jace was still confused by the information Lance had given him. Magnus first broke a bone at eighteen years old, then why did the body in the lab have a broken bone from prepubescent years? He placed his hand on the door handle and opened it ajar. He stopped, however, when there was numerous shouts coming from a close area of the building.

A moment later, Vincent Nigel-Murray and someone else came rushing into view, pursued by numerous members of security.

“Dr. Wayland,” Vincent shouted as he neared, “we have very important news about this case!”

”Highly important,” the other man added.

As they came to a stop in front of Jace, Luke nodded to secuirty and relaxed them of their duties.

“Who are you?” Jace scowled at the man.

“Dr. Jack Hodgins, from the Jeffersonian in Washington, would you look at this,” he held up the container where he had placed the flake of faux leather, “someone was wearing gloves when they killed our victim - covering up the possibility of them leaving fingerprints.”

”Dr. Sweets most likely owns gloves, Dr. Hodgins.”

”Yes, he does, but not electric blue faux leather gloves,” Hodgins pulled a face which showcased his pride, “this is a very small flake so I forgive Ms. Fray for missing it,” he turned to Vincent, “that’s a lie - I don’t forgive anyone for missing evidence,” he looked back to Jace and grinned, “now propose that Dr. Sweets was wearing blue faux leather gloves when shooting the victim - why on earth would he use his own gun with his own fingerprints - he would at least get somebody else to hold it at some point so they can be framed.”

Jace looked to Luke, “I hate to say it, but he’s actually got a point.”

“Tell them what you’ve got Vince,” Hodgins held out his hands to Vincent.

”Oh right,” Vincent held up his uninjured arm, “prepare to be amazed, we examined the body again but as we were - I realised some very important information that had been in the back of my mind. Magnus first broke a bone when he wa-”

”Eighteen,” Jace nodded, “Lance said the same.”

”So why on earth did our victim ha-”

”A remodelled fracture on the fibula from prepubescent years,” Jace continued.

Vincent looked disheartened, “you knew that already.”

”And yet you’re still questioning Sweets for murdering a man who isn’t the dead man in your lab - wow,” Hodgins taunted the men. 

Luke passed the men and pushed the door open, “Dr. Sweets, you’re free to go.”

Lance had probably never been quicker to move out of a seat, he rushed out of the room with a smile on his face, one which stayed when he saw Vincent and Hodgins stood in the hallway.

“You guys found evidence proving my innocence?”

”What can I say?” Jack shrugged, he then held out his arms and very loudly shouted, “King of the Brooklyn Institute!”

“Please get out before you get arrested for being a nuissance,” Luke threatened Dr. Hodgins briefly, the three men then rushed out of the building.

“So Brooklyn doesn’t seem to be going well for you,” Hodgins commented as they reached the outside, “you were being interrogated… In your underwear.”

”Tell me about it…” Lance mumbled.

“Oh, Dr. Sweets, excellent news,” Vincent placed a hand on Sweets’s back, “the body in the lab isn’t Magnus.”

”Really?”

Vincent nodded, “I believe that he had a biological twin brother.”

Lance didn’t know what to think - whether to be happy or confused. If that body wasn’t Magnus, where was Magnus? Was he okay? Or was he hurt?

* * * * *

Alec held the piece of paper in his hand, it wasn’t the best idea to be here alone but it was most likely what was wanted. Upon the first glance of the note he had of course seen he confusing code, ‘AGL-HDM512-050717-1530’, but whilst Dr. Hodgins was inspecting the gun he had noticed the very faint writing on the other side of the note.

_‘He’s still breathing’_

In that moment, he was certain the note was about Magnus. Of course.

He recalled the stories Lance had shared, even some that Magnus had shared. Then he remembered Lance briefly talking about their visits to the abandoned hotel. Hotel DuMort. HDM. Alec knew that somehow that building was still standing. 512 must have been the room number. 

It was madness, not telling anybody and rushin out like that - but he had to get there for 15:30, and he was certain he had to be alone. 

As he looked up at the building, he counting the floors, there were more than five which was promising.

“Alexander,” he turned around when he heard his name, a young woman stood opposite him, she wore a small smile on her face, “it’s okay, I won’t tase you this time,” she held up her empty gloved hands, “my name is Lily, I’m here to take you to your destination.”

”Magnus is alive?”

”You’ll find out, Dr. Lightwood.”

”The note said he’s still breathing, so I’m here for Magnus.”

”And perhaps he’s waiting for you, Dr. Lightwood, so follow me.”

For a kidnapper, the girl wore very bright clothes. From the bright blue gloves to the vibrant yellow skirt - it was enough to need sunglasses. He was cautious as he followed her, she took him to an area that was out of view of any other building.

“Tell me about the other men who were with you when I took you down.”

Alec pulled a face, he didn’t want to give away any information.

“One of them knew your name, Dr. Lightwood. Is he a Doctor too? I didn’t get to hear what the boy called him but I heard the doctor.”

Alec looked down at the ground as he followed the girl, “it really doesn’t matter.”

The girl let out a cold cackle and then muffled her laughter with her hand, “I suppose not,” she turned with a bright smile, “I hope you like stairs.”

“Love them,” Alec commented in a joking tone.

Lily rushed up the first set of steps and then turnd to Alec with the same bright smile, “well hurry up, Ms. Belcourt is waiting.”

”Belcourt? Camille Belcourt?”

Lily seemed to shrug, she then turned and made her way up the rest of the stairs, knowing the forensic anthropologist was always close behind. 

The hotel was dusty and dirty from abandonment, the stairs creaked underneath the weight and the wallpaper was peeling from the walls in several areas. The fifth floor wasn’t as much of a journey as Alec had expected, Lily had stopped outside a door with the numbers 512 plated on the front of the door.

“Quiet,” Lily held up a finger to her lips and then welcomed Alec inside the room.

It was dark, but Alec could see Magnus - restrained and lying down.

“Magnus,” he went to rush over to the FBI agent, but something hard collided with his head before he could get there. He quickly lost consciousness, but he couldn’t care - because Magnus was there. He wasn’t the dead man in the lab.

* * * * *

Rebecca was dragged back to the lab by Clary, Isabelle, and Simon - as much as she offered to pay for them to go bowling. She just hoped Hodgins had found the evidence already. She really tried to keep them away, but when it was later in the day it was hard. So that was how she wound up at the steps of the Brooklyn Institute, dreading going back inside. Perhaps she could create some ridiculous lie about not being comfortable since she had had her second meeting with Lance there. 

There wasn’t time for that, she realised, as Clary tugged her through the door of the Institute.

“Hey guys!” Wendell cheered, he had been seated at the time, but he stood up a moment later to make his way over to them.

“Oh!” Daisy was surprised by their presence and also skipped over to them, “hi, I thought you guys were spending the day out?”

”We were,” Simon answered with a curious tone, “why does it matter? And what are you two doing here?”

”Dr. Lightwood wanted to further assess our skills so he could discuss us with Dr. Brennan,” Daisy quickly bluffed.

“Right,” Izzy nodded slowly, “anthropologists are so weird,” she made her way towards the platform, “even my brother,” she stopped and turned around with an eyebrow raised, “you guys are still looking at Magnus?”

Daisy looked at Wendell, who was doing his best to hold a poker face, “y-yeah, yeah, Dr. Lightwood requested we look at the remodelled fractures and figure out what caused them.”

”Really?” Izzy still seemed unsure, but she eventually let out a laugh, “that’s such an Alec test.”

Wendell and Daisy joined in the laughter, Rebecca could see they were glad their bluff worked. She pressed her lips together and tried not to laugh too much about it, bless their souls.

“Why did we come back here?” She asked, realising that Vincent, Hodgins, and Alec were all absent - so perhaps there was success, but should she risk them still being there for their return?

“Becaus-”

”I declare reigning power over this lab!” a voice bellowed out, and Rebecca knew it was Dr. Hodgins, “king of the l-” he paused when he saw the group of four gathered. Rebecca was overjoyed to see Lance with them (now he was actually wearing a different set of clothes, jeans included).

“Lance,” she ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him, “I knew they could do it, so did Alec!” 

Simon watched, now completely confused by what had happened, “sorry, I thought you were trying to get over him, but now you’re just running back into his murderous arms!”

“I didn’t kill Magnus,” Lance commented as he placed an arm around Rebecca’s shoulder.

”Magnus isn’t even dead,” Vincent added, “well at least, that body isn’t Magnus’s.”

“Plus, someone missed a flake of faux leather on the gun,” Jack crossed his arms as he spoke, “which one of you is Ms. Fray.”

Clary rolled her eyes but slowly raised her hand.

“Disappointing,” Hodgins tutted as he passed her the lense, he looked to Lance and Rebecca and gave them a brief smile, “you know, thank her - it was her idea to call me over.”

Rebecca looked up to Lance with a smile of pride, “you’re welcome.”

”Great,” Simon grunted, “you used today to distract us so you could prove his innocence, see, Rebecca, now I don’t trust you.”

Rebecca hummed, “you guys didn’t want to look for more evidence anyway, you were all more than happy to make Lance the guilty one.”

“I bet Alec wasn’t too happy with it.”

”Actually he spoke to me too,” Hodgins spoke up, he then frowned suddenly, “has anybody seen him since he ran out of here with the note?”

Wendell and Daisy both shook their heads.

Hodgins sighed and looked around to everyone, “I think he figured out where Magnus is.”


	16. The Bonnie and Clyde in Brooklyn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talked around by Dr. Hodgins and Rebecca, Lance decides to go on an undercover mission that could risk his life - and he can't stop Rebecca from joining him. The Brooklyn team can't believe they were fooled by the psychologist.

“HDM512,” Lance whispered as he sat opposite Hodgins, Rebecca was by his side, “HDM… 512… 512…” He leaned back in defeat, “I’ve got nothing.”

”So the rest was Alec’s initials, a date, and a time?” Rebecca looked at Hodgins for confirmation. Jack nodded and leaned back, Rebecca continued to think, “so HDM has to be a place - if he left without speaking to anyone, he must have assumed he could get there in time.”

”HDM,” Lance repeated the letters, and then the numbers, “512,” he paused and looked around, “fifth floor, room 12!” He stood up in realisation, “I know where he is - and even more, I know who has him.”

“You figured it out?”

”HDM, Hotel DuMort. We always went to room 12 on the fifth floor, there was a hidden passage we could get through if we had to escape any police - it led into the next room, room 514.”

“Hotel DuMort? That’s not that far from here,” Rebecca whispered, she looked at Lance who had a worried look across his face, “what’s wrong?”

”The person who has Magnus, her name is Camille Belcourt.”

Rebecca looked at Lance with wide eyes, “no way,” she looked down, “I used to go to college with her.”

Lance turned to his girlfriend, “r-really? That’s… I went to school with her. She was my best friend - I mean, until she was a total bitch.”

Rebecca looked at Lance as though a whole new world had been revealed to her, “what a small world, huh?”

“Small Brooklyn,” Lance nodded, he took a seat again, “if I know Camille - she wouldn’t give up Magnus just because someone decoded her message.”

“We know where she is,” Rebecca shrugged, “perhaps we should just let the FBI know, they’ll go in an-”

”No way,” Hodgins interrupted, “I’m no expert but… If she’s suddenly ambushed by police officers she could lash out and kill her hostages,” he leaned back in his chair, he then hummed and cocked his head, “I don’t think it was her who tased you, if it was - she would have noticed it was you and left a note for you.”

”That’s true.”

”So she has an assailant?”

Lance shrugged, “maybe.”

”I think this is an undercover case.”

”What?” Lance fought off the laughter, “I don’t thi-”

”She wasn’t the one who attacked you, she doesn’t know you’re involved with the Institute at the moment, she doesn’t know where you are in life.”

”Well yeah, she didn’t really care about me in the end.”

“So what if your life had completely changed, what if you were a criminal?”

“You want me to go undercover as a criminal?”

”Yes, but,” he leaned in closer, “this woman could make a link with the Institute at any point - so perhaps it’s best to keep It secret from everyone here.”

”So I just go to the hotel, and say ‘hey Camille, I’m a master criminal, let me in’?”

Hodgins shook his head, “we stage a bank robbery, barely let anybody know it’s fake - air it on the news and she’ll be bound to see it at some point.”

“I don’t kno-”

”Let’s do it,” Rebecca grabbed Lance’s hand.

”Let’s?”

”A headline that is sure to catch the eye? Brooklyn’s own Bonnie and Clyde!”

“Bonnie an- Rebecca, if I do go through with this, you shouldn’t be involved. It could be dangerous and-”

“You’re a psychologist, Lance, I’m pretty sure I’ve faced more dangerous things than you. Isn’t it always better to go in pairs? She might attack if there’s one of us, but if there’s more than one.”

“We’re now just holding out hope that she doesn’t know you’re a psychologist,” Hodgins added, he smiled to Lance and Rebecca, “but little miss ray of sunshine is right,” he paused slightly as Rebecca reacted to the compliment, “you should go in together. Imagine the doubletake, the Lance she knew and the Rebecca she knew together? What a small world - she’ll have more of a chance in trusting you.”

“Can’t we just send Booth and Brennan in?”

“No,” Hodgins eyes were wide with amusement, “actually, that’s a fantastic idea.”

”Tha-”

“Booth comes in to stop the robbery, but you shoot and kill him.”

”Oh God.”

“Acting of course,” he shrugged, “I think it can work, Lance. If there’s video evidence of you holding up a bank and killing an FBI agent, she’ll have to believe you.”

Rebecca was grinning, “I love it,” she looked to Lance, “come on, we can work her into a place where she feels secure, and then I can send a text to someone who will send the FBI to us.”

Lance leaned back, “I suppose… I could claim to keep her safe, send her through to room 514 - where a team should definitely be waiting.”

”So we’re going to do it?” Rebecca leaned into Lance as she whispered.

“Yes,” Lance nodded, “we’re going to become Brooklyn’s own Bonnie and Clyde.”

”We have to keep it as secret as we can.”

* * * * *

A few hours later, Sweets, Rebecca, and Hodgins were sat in Rebecca’s (and Lance’s) living room, waiting for what was next to come. They were both aware that Hodgins had ‘called in a few favours’, but they didn’t know how many exactly, and who.

There was a knock on the door, and Hodgins rushed up to answer it before Rebecca or Lance could offer.

“You have no idea who he’s got?”

”I mean, he mentioned Booth, so I imagine he’ll be one of them - but it sounded like there was more than one person.”

“This is a nice little cozy place,” a voice commented and Lance pulled a face.

“Angela?” He stood up and smiled as the woman entered the room.

“Hey Sweets,” she welcomed him with open arms, “it feels so weird to see you again, in the best of ways of course.”

Sweets quickly hugged Angela, he realised how much he had missed his friends. 

“Cozy is just code for small,” another voice mumbled.

When Lance was free from Angela’s hug he turned to Booth who was looking at Lance with a small smile, “there he is, and no, don’t hug me.”

“What? Why not?”

”Just don’t,” Booth walked around Sweets and sat down in an empty seat, “Hodgins explained his immaculate plan to us-”

“It was all of us,” Rebecca made a point to Hodgins.

“You must be Sweets’s new girl.”

Lance let out an uneasy laugh as he sat next to Rebecca, “you make it sound bad, Booth.”

“What?” Booth shot a defensive glare, “it’s not bad, it’s matter of fact. She’s your new girl, new chick, or… How would Vincent put it?”

“New bird,” Hodgins answered in an accent mimicking Vincent’s. 

Lance rolled his eyes and put his arm around Rebecca’s waist, “can we discuss the ridiculous scheme?”

“Right,” Angela took a seat and pulled a tablet out of her bag, she spoke as she began to search through the tablet, “first things first, no criminal would be caught dead in your grandpa clothes so we need to make you a little less psychologist Lance and a tad more,” she turned the screen for Lance and Rebecca to see, “Senior Year Lance.”

It was a photo of Lance with two boys in his senior year, and it was a ‘grungey’ look if anything, leather jacket, ripped jeans. He thought he looked amazing at the time - but now it just looked to be a cringey phase.

“Where did you get that?”

”It’s on your Facebook, honey,” Angela answered, “see this is a couple of years after Camille last saw you, so it’s a similar style - I thought I would be a nice touch. As for Rebecca, I thought just a jeans and a shirt would be nice.”

”I can’t believe you’ve thought about costumes for us,” Lance whispered.

“We need to make it believable, Sweets.”

“We’ve got guns for you both, blanks so nobody gets hurt. Angela has even created a bloodpack, we’ve got it set up Sweets. I had a lovely phone call with the bank you’re going to ‘rob’, all the staff are aware, any customers will not be.” 

“Angela and I will be there, Angela will record the footage on her phone,” Hodgins added.

“There are a select group of agents that are aware of the set up,” Booth leaned forward as he spoke, “we couldn’t let too many people know… And the part you have to be most aware of, it will be televised as a real case - when we have Camille we will release a statement to let everyone know it was a set up.”

”That’s terrifying,” Rebecca whispered, “but I’m so into it!” 

Lance nodded, he moved his hand and placed it on Rebecca’s knee, “you don’t have to be a part of this, Becky. It could cause permenant damage to your life.”

”Jesus Christ,” Becky waved a hand, “you’re acting as though I’ve never risked anything before? Bring it, I’m all for danger.”

Lance stuttered over his words, “I-I… I mean….”

“It’ll be taking place tomorrow, the bank doesn’t have a specific time - so their staff can be caught off guard by the set up. It’s like a fire drill.”

“Tomorrow,” Rebecca repeated, “that gives us time to get into our criminal characters - and if I’m not mistaken,” she leaned in and whispered, “I believe we’d be quite sexually driven.”

Lance let out a nervous laugh as he turned to face Rebecca - he was never really sure on discussing his sex life in front of his friends, he nodded to Rebecca, “I guess we would be.”

“If you think I’m not going to be biting, you’re wrong,” she added, this time loud enough for everyone to hear. Lance tried not to go red as Angela gave him a look with a raised eyebrow.

“We should uh…”

Booth set the two guns on the coffee table and looked up at Lance, “they both have blanks in them, so it doesn’t matter who does the shooting.”

”Shoot as though you’re aiming for his heart,” Angela added as she pointed to Booth, “the bloodpack will be located there.”

“Angela and I will enter the bank at 2:45pm, so enter a few minues after us.”

“I’ll be in a car outside with a live feed, I’ll come in,” Booth continued the plan, “I’ll aim at Rebecca, and as the protective lover - you’ll shoot me. Then you’ll make a run for it whilst Hodgins attempts to save me.”

“And I’ll stop recording,” Angela spoke again, “we’ll make the public in the bank aware of the set up, so they don’t live through too much trauma.”

Lance nodded slowly, “this will probably make a lot of people detest the FBI.”

“People alrady detest the FBI,” Hodgins quickly interjected, “what with their cover ups and fake outs.”

”Hey,” Booth held out a hand as though to silence Hodgins, “no conspiracy theories, come on Bug Boy,” he looked to Lance, “you guys are going to be great,” he stood up, “so tomorrow, just after 2:45. I look forward to you killing me.”

Lance was still partly unsure but he nodded and smiled to Booth, Angela quickly pulled the clothes for Sweets out of her bag and placed them on the coffee table, “don’t forget to be a little bit more badass,” she whispered, “actually… A lot more.”

”I’m already pretty badass.”

”Sure you are, Mr. Adventure,” Hodgins mimicked, “you’re coming with me for an hour or so tonight, to scope out the area of course - so get Mr. Adventure ready on standby,” he smiled and then ushered Booth and Angela out of the room, “these two will catch you tomorrow, I’ll be here at nine tonight, so don’t be half dressed when that time comes around.”

When they had gone, Lance turned to Rebecca and let out a sigh, one which showcased how terrified he was, “I’m still kind of unsure of this,” he commented as Rebecca placeed her hand n his, “what if one of us gets hurts, what if you get hurt?”

“Babe, stop worrying. We’re going to be fine.”

Lance leaned back on the sofa and grunted, “it’s too late to turn back now, isn’t I-” he stopped when Rebecca began laughing, “what?”

“It’s nothing, just… Well we said about being Bonnie and Clyde, and in the musical about them there’s a song called ‘Too Late To Turn Back Now’.”

Lance chuckled slightly, “alright, I see the humour.”

* * * * * 

Lance and Hodgins had arrived at the area, they were nearby when the gated passage that Lance had pointed out opened, a woman stepped out, “I’ll see you in a couple of days,” sh was heard to say to someone on the other side. Hodgins and Sweets ducked around a corner to hide from sight.

One thing stood out prominantly to Hodgins, he hit Lance’s shoulder as he realisd what it was, “her gloves! Bright blue faux leather, she’s the one who shot the gun, the one who probably kidnapped you lot. Do you know her?”

”No,” Sweets shook his head, “I have no clue.”

”Who even wears bright blue faux leather loves as an accessory?”

”Psychotic kidnappers who are working for Camille Belcourt.”

“Is there any evidence she’s working for Ca-”

”Magnus is being kept in room 512 at the Hotel DuMort, all of this clearly points to Camille being the brains of the operation. She took him there because we weren’t caught there. She feels safe.”

Hodgins leaned up against the wall and smiled to Lance, “the good news is the kidnapping assistant isn’t going to be there for the next couple of days so she won’t be able to call you out on knowing Alec.”

“And Camille isn’t aware that I’ve been working with the Institute, else she would have left me a note - which she didn’t.”

“So you’re going to go in through that passage?”

“It was the one we used when we were younger.”

“Awesome,” Hodgins nodded.

“What if she knows I’m a psychologist?”

“Rebecca is your key,” Hodgins shrugged, “if she susses you out as an FBI psychologist, then the drama between you and Rebecca begins to kick off - as though you used her for an undercover mission. She’ll have to send a text to me or Booth, and he’ll get his team there as soon as possible.”

”Awesome,” Lance began to smile again, “thank you so much Hodgins.”

”Don’t thank me, I’m having plenty of fun doing this, I should be thanking you,” Hodgins placed his hand on Lance’s back, “we should probably get back so you and Rebecca can get into character, I won’t judge if I see you tomorrow with many bite marks.”

Lance rolled his eyes as he walked away from Hodgins, even though Hodgins quickly followed him.

* * * * * 

Izzy, Clary, Simon, and Jace were on the platform when it happened. Vincent ran up onto the platform, scanning his visitor card as he did so.

”This is very, very, important,” he sounded nervous as he stepped in front of one of the screens, “just got to-” he mumbled to himself as he set up his phone to show on the screen. He was watching a news report, the woman in the report was stood in front of a bank.

“I’m here at the scene of the robbery, where the Bonnie and Clyde-esque couple were last seen. The assailants, believed to be Lance Sweets-”

”What?” Clary gasped at the name.

“and Rebecca Lewis,-”

”What?” Simon practically screamed.

“also shot and killed an FBI agent, who currently remains nameless-”

Simon leaned back on the table in the middle of the platform and stared forward, “that’s not like Becky at all,” he grunted and turned to Vincent, “I knew that damn psychologist was going to be trouble, but no - you had to go and ‘save’ your psychotic psychologist, didn’t you?”

”In my defense, the evidence I found was still standing.”

“Sweets won’t be once I’m done with him,” Simon growled, “honestly, what the hell goes on in his head? He fucking brainwashed my sister!”

Izzy crossed her arms and frowned, “and no doubt he’s the reason Alec’s mysteriously disappeared.”

”N-no,” Vincent shook his head, “Dr. Lightwood figured out the location of Magnus, but… He didn’t tell any of us and none of us have figured it out.”

“What did he have to figure it out?”

”A note?” Vincent shrugged, “I think.”

”Oh I know,” Clary gasped, “there was a sheet of paper with letters and numbers on it… It… What was it?”

Vincent didn’t know the answer, he looked back at the screen and tilted his head. Whilst he looked at the paused image on the screen - it was of footage from somebody’s phone. The image on the screen was far more complex than it seemed as he looked into it intently.

Whilst Vincent was looking at the screen, the members of the Brooklyn team began to disappear.

”I’m going to Rebecca’s,” Simon quickly said before rushing away from the platform.

“Iz, come with me to check through the evidence, we’ll see if the note is still there - if not, we’ll look for anything else we can. I’ll do whatever I can to find your brother.”

”Thanks Clary.”

”I’ll go talk to Luke about this,” Jace excused himself as he pointed to the screen.

The Brooklyn team had all gone from the platform, Vincent simply stepped closer to the screen.

“Vino Delectable, there you are,” Wendell called as he ran up the platform, he stopped by Vincent’s side and looked at the screen, “oh is that the shooting at the bank?”

“Dr. Sweets and Simon’s sister are the bank robbers.”

”What?”

Vincent hummed and narrowed his eyes, he leaned in towards the screen, “this isn’t right.”

“You’re telling me,” Wendell scoffed, “Dr. Sweets isn’t a criminal, so that’s-”

”No, no, the video - not the scenario. Well, yes, the scenario is wrong too, but the video.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“It just doesn’t seem right, the person filming seems to… Seems to know what’s going to happen when- Look,” he played the part of the video where Lance shot the FBI agent, “they moved the camera to Sweets just before the gun is fired, and then a moment later they move it to the agent - and you can’t see his face.”

”Pause it,” Wendell instructed, and Vincent did. Wendell stepped back and covered his mouth, “there’s no way that.. it’s-”

“What?”

”That’s Booth.”

”What? How do you know?”

Wendell looked to Vincent with an eyebrow raised, “the one thing that sticks out about Seeley Booth, is his socks,” he pointed to the screen where the agent’s socks could be seen, they were bright pink.

Vincent began to smile, “oh this is brilliant.”

”What? No, it isn’t.”

“No, it is,” Vincent began to play the footage again, and a moment later he paused it, “this man,” he pointed to a man that was rushing over to the fallen Booth, it was one of the very last frames in the video, “you can’t see it clearly but that is Hodgins.”

“Can you play the video from the beginning? But perhaps slowing it down?”

”I can try,” Vincent nodded, he did as asked and it wasn’t long until he had done as asked. 

They watched the video from the beginning, not too long into the video they both noticed the same thing - Wendell screamed for him to pause but he already had. They looked at the reflection that showed in the image, it was a reflection of the person recording.

“Angela,” they both whispered at the same time.

“It’s fake,” Wendell whispered.

“We better not say anything about it, there’s most likely a good reason for them doing this. I mean, it’s weird but… Maybe.”

Wendell smiled to Vincent, “I know the Brooklyn team don’t trust us a lot, but we’re honestly amazing.”

“Should Daisy be aware of this being fake? I mean she’ll most likely find out about the robbery, what if she-”

Vincent went silent and switched off the screen as Daisy appeared with a smile on her face, she made her way over to them, “have you guys heard about that bank robbery,” she let out a laugh and waved a hand.

Wendell and Vincent shared a look of ‘so she doesn’t know Lance was involved’, they then both began to awkwardly laugh.

“They really went all out, huh?”

”What?”

”The set up,” she shrugged, “come on, don’t tell me you guys didn’t know.”

”You analysed the footage too?”

”No,” Daisy pulled a face, “as soon as they said ‘Lance Sweets’ on the radio, I knew it was fake. I mean come on - it’s Lance, and Rebecca too. I’m not stupid. Wait, you guys had to analyse footage?”

Wendell and Vincent briefly looked at each other before looking back to Daisy, and they both nodded.

“All you had to do was have faith in Lance.”

“We do, hence we analysed the footage and found solid evidence that it’s fake - just to satisfy our own minds.”

* * * * *

Lance kept a hold of Rebecca’s hand as he led her into the abandoned hotel, it was worse than it had been when he last saw it, but it was still also oddly nice. He looked back to Rebecca who was keeping an eye on where she stepped. He paused so he could turn back to face her.

“Are you okay?” He spoke in a whispered voice.

She flashed a smile and nodded, “yeah,” she replied quietly.

Lance quickly took a moment to kiss her, and he then placed his arm around her shoulder instead of holding her hand, “just checking,” they began to walk again, Lance led her to the stairs that would lead up to the fifth floor. He then began to speak as though they didn’t have a plan, just in case someone was listening in, “I used to come to this place all the time when I was at high school, there’s a room upstairs where you can escape into the next room - nobody will be catching us today.”

“Exciting,” Rebecca replied, “so we’ll leave it a few days? Then make a run for it, somewhere new?”

“Of course,” he smiled as they continued up the stairs, “it’s a bit better in here than I thought it would be.”

“I’m just glad it’s still standing in here.”

“They kept it up, just in case construction continues.”

“Construction continues? This dust has been setting for like… Seven years!”

“Gross,” Lance pulled a face, and then stopped as they reached the fifth floor, “this is the floor, now I just have to remember which room it was,” he knew what room it was - room 512, but he also knew he should go into 514, Camille wouldn’t be so quick to attack someone that came in through their secret passage. 

He opened the door to 514, and waved for Becky to go inside, and then he followed her and led her towards the bedroom. He opened up the closet and was happy to see the makeshift hatch still existed. He opened it, Rebecca took it from his grip and he quietly made his way through, Rebecca then passed him the bag of money before following through herself. 

When they were in the bedroom, Lance quickly began to kiss Rebecca, and so she began to giggle. They didn’t try to keep quiet anymore, Camille would hopefully check out the commotion. Lance pulled Rebecca towards the bed, he was partly surprised Camille didn’t have Magnus held captive in there, but then again it may have been a double bedroom suite.

Lance fell back onto the bed, with Rebecca now on top of him. In a split second of pleasure, he forgot about everything that was happening, until the door opened suddenly. Rebecca rolled off of Lance and looked at the door with wide eyes.

”S-sorry, I didn’t think there’d be an- Camille?” Lance jumped up from the bed and walked over to the woman, “oh my God, it is you! It’s been so long…”

Camille scoffed out a laugh, “Lance Sweets, I’m surprised you haven’t killed yourself by now.”

“Harsh,” Lance replied with a moment of bitter laughter.

“Oh my God,” Rebecca stood up, “you know Camille too?”

”Rebecca,” Camille looked at the girl, “this is how bad your life got, you were better off with Lily. You, Lance, were far better alone. ”

Lance rolled his eyes, “it would have been far worse if I ended up with Magnus like I thought I would,” he laughed and crossed his arms, “but you… You’re so fucking beautiful now.”

”Babe, don’t forget the girl you shot a cop to save,” Rebecca placed a hand on Lance’s chest, she looked to Camille, “sometimes you can’t tame the horny beast.”

Camille raised one eyebrow at Rebecca, “horny beast? Please never say that again,” she looked to Lance, “you shot a cop?”

”FBI,” Lance let out another laugh, this one was far cockier than the others, “he held up a gun up to Becky, big mistake. Fucking asshole thought he could threaten my girlfriend when he had no back up.”

“He’s dead and gone now, baby,” Rebecca placed a hand on Lance’s back.

Camille began to smile, “you have definitely changed,” she looked around and crossed her arms, “well, since you’re here… why not see what I have in store,” she crooked one finger and moved back through the door. Lance looked at Rebecca momentarily and then followed Camille into the next room where, sure enough, Magnus and Alec were both restrained with tape covering their mouths. At least they weren’t able to give Lance’s identity away.

He could see that it took a moment for Alec to recognise him, but Magnus seemed to know straight away. Perhaps it was because of his outfit - perhaps he did look very different without his ‘grandpa sweaters’.

He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow as he looked at the men, “is that Magnus?”

”Of course, the boy who left me,” Camille paused and actually seemed to glare at Lance, “just because of you.”

“You made fun of my depression,” Lance sneered back to the woman, “but hell, this is fucking hilarious. You have Magnus Bane,” he let out a bitter laugh, “thank God, it’s about time someone teaches him a lesson - he’s a fucking asshole underneath that saintly personality. You know he broke contact with me, I needed him and he ignored me!” He began to raise his voice towards the end, he looked over to Alec, “who’s that?”

”Magnus’s boyfriend.”

“Oh,” Lance nodded slowly, “what are you planning on doing to them?”

Camille hummed, “I’m not sure,” she gasped and clapped her hands together, “perhaps I should kill Alec in front of Magnus, make them both suffer.”

Magnus let out a muffled yelp - obviously displeased by the statement.

“Oh, don’t like that Maggy?”Camille taunted Magnus, he grunted and Camille just laughed, “such a weak man.”

Lance grinned, “not bad, not bad at all.”

“I could slice his neck open,” as Camille spoke, Lance could see the fear show in Alec’s eyes, “that would be fun to watch,” she approached Alec but Lance grabbed her arm.

”Wait, keep them for a little bit longer, they know what’s to come, but perhaps you can think of something even better.”

”Good thinking, Sweets, to think you turned out alright, huh?”

”Yeah,” Sweets laughed, he looked over to Rebecca who was holding up a stuffed animal.

“Such a hardcore criminal keeping a plush elephant by her side?”

Lance looked at the stuffed animal and let his expression soften, he rushed over to Rebecca, “that’s mine! Camille, this is mine!”

“I know,” Camille nodded, “as much as I didn’t like you after our fall out, I kept the elephant.”

”So sentimental,” Rebecca commented with an eyeroll, she handed the elephant over to Lance, “who would have thought a kidnapper could be so.”

Lance smiled slightly as he held his old stuffed animal, “can I keep this Camille? It’s the only thing I had from my parents,” he stumbled over his words slightly, “it meant a lot to me.”

“Sure,” Camille shrugged, “it was nice to have some memory of you around, seeing as I thought you’d be dead by now.”

Sweets hummed and sat down on an old wooden chair, “this is nice, back where we once were. All three of us,” he grinned over to Magnus, “fucking wonderful, I honestly find it amazing that you’ve managed to get your hands on him - it’s hilarious,” he paused briefly, “is he crying?”

”Probably,” Camille shrugged, “I tried to do it without silencing him but he wouldn’t shut the fuck up, winge, winge, winge,” she waved a hand, “I can’t believe the sweet boy Sweets became a criminal.”

Rebecca had been paying attention to her phone for a majority of the conversation, the usual vibration notified her that she had been messaged.

She was not expecting to see Daisy’s name.

_’Becca, I know the truth, as do Vincent and Wendell. You can trust us.’_

She glanced over to Camille and Lance and she wondered, should she risk it and reply to Daisy? Of course she should.

_’Thank you so much, don’t let the Brooklyn team know, just in case one of them is giving secrets to Camille’_

Daisy replied quickly, _‘Camille Saroyan?’_

_’Camille Belcourt. Tell Vincent he was right, Magnus is alive.’_

_’SCORE ONE FOR WASHINGTON!’_

_’Dr. Lightwood is here too, he’s alive.’_

_’Thank God, as long as you’re all okay.’_

“Hey! Rebecca!” Camille hissed to the girl, “nice to see you’re so in tune with the world around you.”

“I don’t need to be aware of whatever past you and Lance have, he knows that sentimental shit makes me uncomfortable.”

“She refused to celebrate our anniversaries.”

”Anniversaries?”

”Three month, six month, so on.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes, “woopdidoo, we’ve been together for a little while, let’s celebrate with cards, teddy bears, and chocolates! It’s not really needed, Lance.”

“It’s nice,” Lance shrugged as he held the elephant in his arms.

“You’ll let us stay here tonight, right Cam? We’ll be out of your hair by tomorrow.”

Camille pouted pathetically, “you’re not going to say and help me teach these weak bitches a lesson?”

”God no,” Rebecca shook her head, “Lance shooting that cop was enough for me.”

”Fair enough,” Camille nodded, “well,” she looked to Alec, “we’ll get onto you tomorrow, Lightwood.”

Alec closed his eyes, obviously masking his fear.

Rebecca smiled slyly, she would text Hodgins as soon as they planned to ‘sleep’, and shortly after that, the FBI would arrive - led by Booth of course.

Except… Of course, it wouldn’t happen as planned.


	17. The Mess In The Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan seemed like it would work, but of course it wouldn't. Lance faces the consequences whilst Alec and Magnus try to figure out what exactly is going on.

It was going well, Camille had no idea that Lance Sweets was really a psychologist with the softest personality in the world, she had no idea that Rebecca’s brother worked in the lab with Dr. Lightwood. They had made friends with her, she trusted them. Rebecca waited until she was alone with Sweets to send the text.

_’All set in the hotel, Alec and Magnus are alive and mostly unharmed.’_

_’Booth will be there straight away.’_

And straight away, Lance saw a group of cars pull up outside the hotel, “that was ridiculously fast…”

Rebecca hummed and stood next to Lance, “time to get her into 514, right?”

”Right,” Lance nodded before rushing away from Rebecca and into the room where Camille was attempting to sleep, “Camille, the police are here, I- I have no idea how b-but-”

”You led the fucking cops here!” Camille spat, “of course you fucking did, fucking amateurs - Bonnie and Clyde, my ass! I should fucki-”

”Hey!” Rebecca gave a hushed shout, “they’ll see movement up here, Camille maybe you should go into the next room, you guys have that secret passage right, the one Lance and I came through?”

Lance nodded, “she’s right, Camille… You should go, I’ll go down for your crime.”

”What? Really?”

”I led them here, maybe I deserve it.”

Camille looked to Rebecca, “fine, are you coming?”

”Hell no, I’m staying,” she placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder, “like Bonnie and Clyde, we’ll go down side by side.”

”And she claims to hate sentimenal shit,” Camille gagged and then turned to the closet where the passage started, “thank you Lance… If you’re alive after this, I’ll make sure to repay you in some way.”

”No need to worry,” Lance shrugged.

As soon as Camille had cleared the passed, Lance and Rebecca ran through to the main room, instantly rushing to Magnus’s and Alec’s aids, Rebecca unwrapped the tape from Magnus’s wrists - the man squirmed at it all however, he clearly didn’t know what to think.

Alec remained calm as Lance took off his restraints, perhaps he knew, perhaps he was aware somehow.

The door flew open and a team ran in.

They weren’t led by Booth, in fact it was Luke who was at the front of the team, “put your hands up and slowly get down to the ground!” 

Lance looked to Rebecca and simply said, “this isn’t right.”

”Now!” Luke ordered.

“This is wrong,” Lance didn’t follow the orders, he stayed stood behind the surface that Alec was lying on, “this isn’t-”

”Get down!”

“Becky-”

A loud gunshot interrupted Lance and he fell to the ground, a bullet to the shoulder - what karma for his incident with Vincent. He grunted and held a hand to his wound. After seeing this, Rebecca quickly followed the orders, she stared at Lance whilst they were on the floor, “it’s the wrong team, Lance.”

”I know.”

“Lance…” 

“What?”

”Nobody would have been in 514.”

Lance looked at her with wide eyes, “y-you guys have to get C-Camille, 514, she’ll be in the-”

”Shut up!” Luke shouted, “I’ve had enough of your pathetic bullshit, Dr. Sweets. Lie after lie, why would we ever believe you’re an innocent bystander?”

”I’m an innocent unde-”

”Quiet.”

Alec sat up once free from his restraints, he pulled off the tape around his mouth, “Dr. Garroway I-”

”Agent Garroway,” Luke corrected.

Alec nodded and looked down to Lance, “go easy on him, I think there’s more to this than we know.”

* * * * * 

"Where is Dr. Garroway?” Vincent asked the team as he looked around the table, they were at a bar for some unbeknownst reason - there wasn’t much to celebrate, “I thought he’d be-”

”Agent Garroway is making an arrest,” Izzy narrowed her eyes at the boy, “your supposedly innocent Dr. Sweets was spotted outside Hotel DuMort.”

Clary walked to the group as she ended a phone call, she looked at them with teary eyes, “Magnus and Alec are alive,” she whispered, “it was Lance and Rebecca that had them…”

”What?” Simon frowned, “no way, Sweets fucking changed my sister, she wouldn’t have done this….”

“She did, Simon,” Clary looked at him, “I’m sorry, but we should all clearly re-evalutate who we think we know. I can’t believe this.”

“N-no,” Vincent shook his head, “you are all aware this was a set up, right?”

”Vincent,” Daisy whispered to the boy, trying to silence him.

”Dr. Sweets isn’t guilty, we have evidence!”

“Oh you and your fucking evidence,” Jace hissed, “this is all over, your precious psychologist was guilty, you probably helped him.”

Vincent let out a frustated grunt, which was similar to a scream, “no, no, Dr. Sweets is innocent, it was a set up to try and catch Camille Belcourt, the one who really took Agent Bane and Dr. Lightwood.”

”Vincent shut up,” Wendell thumped Vincent’s shoulder quickly, “just let them think what they think.”

”Not if it’s wrong! These people clearly don’t look at the evidence properly before they come to a conclusion. I believe Dr. Brennan would call it somewhat barbaric.”

“I can’t wait for Dr. Lightwood to get rid of you guys,” Izzy commented, “after this incident, I can’t stand any of you.”

Daisy’s mouth dropped in offense, “we’re just doing what’s best for our friend, we’ve given you evidence that he didn’t kill the fake Magnus, we’ve given so much evidence.”

Vincent smiled slightly as Daisy finally joined in the argument, “we have solid evidence that the bank robbery was a set up, Dr. Hodgins, Agent Seeley Booth, and Angela Montenegro are all in the video,” Vincent blurted out, not fussed with the consequences, “Booth was the agent that was shot in the video, but we all know that would never happen - Booth is like another father to Sweets. Angela was recording the video, had it been real, Angela would have tried speaking to Lance. Then there’s Dr. Hodgins, he tended to Agent Booth’s ‘wounds’, which were of course - fake.”

”I doubt your team would be able to comprehend such a complicated set up,” Jace jeered at the trio.

Vincent scowled, “I’ll have you know Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth went undercover at a travelling circus once, they had a knife throwing act and everything - it was intense.”

“I heard about that,” Wendell laughed, “I was so gutted I didn’t get to see it.”

Izzy rolled her eyes and leaned back, “how do we get you guys to leave?”

“You ask politely,” Wendell answered as he stood up, “come on guys-”

”I mean leave Brooklyn,” Izzy challenged the trio, “I want you to go.”

”No way,” Daisy scoffed, crossing her arms, “we were invited here, to help - you guys clearly need it. After all, it was Vincent who discovered that the corpse wasn’t Magnus, it was our Dr. Hodgins that found evidence on the gun - it was us who discovered the robbery was fake. You guys need us here.”

”No we don’t,” Simon narrowed his eyes, “what I need, is your psychopathic psychologist to stay the fuck away from my sister.”

“Rebecca will tell you the truth,” Daisy commented before standing up and leaving, soon Vincent and Wendell followed.

What Daisy said seemed to make Simon think though, perhaps he should speak to Rebecca about it all, find out what the hell is going on and why it’s happening.

* * * * *

Alec could finally hold Magnus again, and the agent seemed to love it when he did. He kept his arms around him for a short while before finally breaking the silence.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Magnus.”

Magnus smiled and placed a hand on Alec’s cheek, “I’m glad you’re okay too, Alec,” he replied softly, and then looked around the room where they were held captive, “I’m very confused…”

”Lance was acting,” Alec noted, “I might not be a psychologist but it was clear to see - he was playing a Lance that would ease his way in to Camille’s trust… The plan fell through - Luke doesn’t know about it, they were meant to ha-”

Alec was cut short as the door burst open and another FBI agent rushed into the room, followed by Dr. Hodgins and a pregnant woman.

“Well, this isn’t right,” Dr. Hodgins commented quietly.

“Special Agent Seeley Booth,” Alec turned to Magnus, he gave the group a small smile, “they’ve gone, I convinced them to leave Magnus and I to it… Another team took Lance and Rebecca.”

”They must have thought it was real,” Angela whispered, “no other FBI agents knew of the plan, right Booth?”

”Right,” Booth sighed, “I knew we should have been set up directly outside - not around the damn block,” he glared at Hodgins.

“If Camille had access to the footage she would recognise us if she were to ever come outside,” Hodgins shrugged.

“Nobody was waiting for Camille,” Angela whispered, she looked at the bedroom door and slowly walked towards it, pointing to main the door to the hotel room first. Booth made his way out of the room and kept his eye on the door to 514. 

Angela made her way through the bedroom to the secret route she had been informed about, she carefully crawled through and stood up in the bedroom of 514, looking around - there was nobody. She rushed to the door that led to the main room, once again it was bare. In defeat she walked out of the room to the hallway where Booth was waiting, she held out her arms and shook her head.

“She’s gone.”

“Fantastic,” Booth mumbled as he walked back into the room with Alec, Magnus, and Hodgins. Magnus was holding a blue elephant plush toy.

“I never thought I’d have to break Lance Sweets out of jail two times in one week,” Hodgins sighed.

“Except you can’t,” Angela glared at her husband, “Camille is free, if Lance and Rebecca are released - if it’s revealed that they faked it, Camille will go even further into hiding.”

Alec nodded to Angela, “she’s right.”

“Camille won’t go into hiding,” Magnus spoke up, “she’ll go full psycho if she knows he tried to get her arrested, she’ll try to kill him. She doesn’t care about Lance, trust me. If she can kill him off, she will.”

”He’s revealed her hideout,” Booth commented, “she’ll already be wanting his death.”

Magnus took a moment after hearing Booth’s words,as soon as he said death, he recalled the pain when he truly thought he was going to die - it grew worse when he saw she had also caught Alec. He grabbed the anthropologist’s hand and looked him in the eyes, breaking away from the case in hand, “I’m so glad you’re okay Alec, I get to talk to you again… I really thought I…”

Alec smiled to Magnus supportively, “hey, we’re both here, we’re both alive Magnus,” he pulled a face and shifted back to the other topic, “I don’t think Luke would be willing to listen if we proclaimed Lance’s innocence, everytime they think they can trust Lance, something shows up to change their minds.”

“Why is Brooklyn so freaking complicated,” Booth growled, “right, as an FBI officer, the one who was actually ‘shot’ in the footage, I’ll proclaim his innocence.”

”You’re meant to be dead,” Hodgins pointed out, “look, say Camille did get a glimpse of your face, then she sees you one day walking about alive and well, she’ll know.”

“I don’t think the footage I caught showed that much detail, there are many white men who have a similar look to them, especially FBI agents, you all wind up looking similar.”

Booth narrowed his eyes, “hey, come on, I’m the most attractive FBI agent.”

”Because there’s not that much choice,” Camille scoffed, “besides, Magnus is cuter than you.”

Magnus let out a quick ‘ha’ and then looked down at the bliue elephant in his arms, “all I know is I want to keep this for Lance, as a ‘congratulations for getting out of jail’ present, after all these years - it was Camille who had it.”

Seeley raised an eyebrow at Magnus and then shook his head, “it’s an elephant, does it really mean that much?”

”It was the only thing he had from his birth parents,” Magnus explained, “things like this are sentimental.”

Booth nodded, remember hearing about Lance’s birth parents in the past, so we need Lance to stay in jail until we catch Camille… He’s not going to like that.”

“He’ll understand,” Angela shrugged, “he will.”

* * * * * 

Once again, Lance was a suspect, and once again Luke Garroway was glaring at him. He couldn’t blame Luke, but he really wished he had thought it all out before jumping into an undercover mission - although he was glad Magnus and Alec were alright. He felt bad for Rebecca, he shouldn’t have dragged her into this mess - even if she made the decision to be a part of it, he should have fought harder to keep her away from it.

He pressed his head against the metal bar of his jail cell and looked out where there were multiple officers, he couldn’t blame them for not believing him - the set up was just that good. 

“Lancelot,” he was surprised to hear a voice.

“Daisy?”

An officer was walking the girl through with Vincent and Wendell trailing behind her. The officer disappeared after a moment and alerted the trio that there were security cameras if they tried anything. 

“You’ve got yourself in quite the predicament, right? Wait until Dr. B hears about this.”

”No,” Lance pouted, “don’t tell Brennan.”

“We won’t have to, you’re a national headline,” Wendell grinned, “Dr. B is going to see you shoot Booth.”

Lance looked at the trio with puppy dog eyes, “I didn’t… I didn’t hurt him, I-”

“Like us,” Vincent started with a sweet smile, “Dr. B will quickly notice that your little bank robbery was a set up,” he raised his eyesbrows and shrugged, “you can’t get past us like that Dr. Sweets. Oh hey look,” he pointed to Lance’s shoulder and then his own, “twins!”

Lance started to smile, then he looked about suddenly, “oh Rebecca, where’s she? Can you check she’s okay?”

”I will,” Daisy nodded and quickly rushed away to find the officer again.

Vincent and Wendell both watch Lance with pleased smiles, “you need to stop doing this to yourself Dr. Sweets,” Wendell chuckled quietly, “you keep making stuff worse for yourself.”

”Thanks,” Lance growled, he let out a sigh, “loo-”

”Alright, times up!” An officer interrupted, “FBI is here to speak to you,” he glared at Lance and the two boys quickly waved and rushed away. Lance was not ready for what Luke would have to say to him, he knew it would be a string of abuse but that was okay considering Luke didn’t know the truth.

Instead, Seeley Booth walked up to the cell with a smile on his face, Lance looked at him with wide eyes, “Booth, shouldn’t you be.. pretending to be dead?”

”No way, I’m alerting the FBI that the bank robbery was a set up, however you will have to stay here for a little while, until Camille is caught.”

“Fun.”

”I’m sorry, the officers will know about the set up as well, I promise this will all blow over soon, we just need to get Camille, any idea where she could be?”

Lance shrugged, “I was pretty sure she was living at the Hotel DuMort.”

”Right,” Booth pulled a face, “if you hear or see anything.”

”From jail,” Sweets glared at Booth with a sarcastic expression, “sure, I’ll just pop on out and come tell you.”

”Hey, shut up.”

* * * * *

Alec and Magnus returned to the Brooklyn Institute, and Alec was amazed to see his team all stood up on the platform that had ben newly decorated, they were all quite happy - except from Simon who seemed to be forcing a smile (perhaps it was to do with Rebecca).

“I’m so glad you’re alive,” Izzy shouted as she rushed over to her brother, “I was so worried.”

“I knew we shouldn’t have trusted Lance,” Simon sighed, “he’s clearly a manipulative lying psycho, and turning my sister to hi-”

”Actually,” Magnus interrupted him, “we believe that what happened with them was… a decoy, a set up to get Camille to trust them.”

”Bullshit, they killed someone!” Simon argued back, “like shot him dead, that’s not the kind of set up that-”

”We spoke to Seeley Booth, Dr. Jack Hodgins, and Jack’s partner, Angela. They were involved in the set up. Seeley Booth was the agent that was shot,” Alec crossed his arms, “Lance was just trying to help us.”

The group looked at each other in slight confusion, Clary pulled a face and turned to one of the screens, she worked whilst the others were trying to figure out what was going on and she pulled up the footage of the crime. The team all turned to watch it back, it seemed real…

“I’m not proud of that camera work,” a woman’s voice spoke up, the team turned around again to see Dr. Jack Hodgins and a woman who must have been the one named Angela, she was pulling a face, “I make it so obvious that it’s fake.”

”What?” Simon looked at her.

Angela rolled her eyes and sighed, “I move the camera around before stuff actually happens, because I know what’s happening next.”

“Alright, alright, maybe this was a set up,” Simon shrugged, “but you guys had to drag Rebecca into this? She’s probably sitting in jail, terrified! Wondering why she let-”

“She was the one who convinced Lance,” Jack was watching Simon with narrowed eyes, “she was more than eager to go undercover, it was actually kind of weird. Let me tell you, that girl is probably into some weird sex stuff - nobody is that eager about going undercover in a potentially life threateni- Oh, you know what, Brennan is just like that too…”

“That totally confirms the weird sex stuff,” Angela whispered and was nodding, “Dr. B likes to experiment.”

“Okay, okay, let’s not talk about my sister being weirdly kinky.”

”Oh no, let’s,” Dr. Hodgins smiled, “this could be a good study for Dr. Sweets, ‘why are the kinky ones eager to go undercover?’.”

”Worst thesis ever,” Angela mumbled.

“So this video is fake,” Izzy stepped forward, “but they were the ones who had Magnus and Alec in the hotel, so surely-”

”They weren’t the ones who had taken us there,” Alec rolled his eyes, “we were being held captive by Camille Belcourt.”

“Lance and Rebecca were actually trying to help us,” Magnus defended the psychologist, “but the wrong team of agents came to the hotel first, perfectly timed by the sound of things. How did Luke know where to find us?”

“I remembered the note,” Clary raised her hand, “and then I decoded it…”

Jack looked at Clary and began to smile, “alright, I’ll forgive you for missing that leather flake, good job, girl.”

”Thanks,” Clary looked to him with a look of pride, “but come on, don’t call me girl.”

”Sorry, it was meant to be… It was meant to be an encouraging ‘girl’, you know like ‘you go girl’.”

”Shut up honey,” Angela whispered to Hodgins, she looked back to the team, “look, Sweets and Rebecca are going to have to stay in jail for a little while, we’re launching an investigation to figure out where Camille is, once she’s caught, Lance and Rebecca will be allowed to be free.”

”You’ll have to catch her assistant too,” Alec spoke quickly, “the girl with the blue gloves.”

“The one who murdered Magnus’s twin!” Hodgins clapped his hands together and slowly realised the look of confusion that had spread over Magnus’s face, “oh right… Well Camille set up a murder that they all thought was you but Vincent figured out it wasn’t you and that it may have been a biological twin.”

”Oh…”

“Sad, I know,” Hodgins placed a hand on Magnus’s shoulder, “but of course it’s in the past now agent Bane. We’ve got two women to catch!”

* * * * * 

Lance was turned towards a wall when another visitor came, this time he really was surprised, first the interns, then Seeley - perhaps it would be Angela or Hodgins, heck maybe it was Dr. Brennan.

“I’m here to speak on behalf of Ms. Belcourt,” a voice spoke quietly, hushed so the officers wouldn’t hear.

Lance turned around and saw a girl stood looking down at her gloved hands, bright blue gloves - he stared in shock, he knew who this girl had to be. She looked up before he could turn away again and before she even spoke, her eyes too grew wide.

“You!” She hissed, “you know Dr. Lightwood, so then why would Camille tru-” She gasped and backed away, “you were playing undercover,” and with that conclusion she ran.

“Fuck!” Lance whispered, he rushed forward to the door of the cell and yelled out, “h-hey! Hey! That girl! She’s the one that kidnapped Agent Bane and Dr. Lightwood!” Nobody seemed to be listening, not that Lance could tell, he stumbled back and sat down in a moping fashion. He frowned and looked around him, “not that anybody really cares what I have to say. God, I’ve made so many bad choices.”


	18. No Good in Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A compromise is made to get Lance and Rebecca out of jail, and our story is bought to a close.

Alec held his hands together and looked over to Magnus who was sat in silence trying to figure everything out, “you know, our life was better when the Washington lot weren’t around.”

Magnus raised an eyebrow, “I disagree, Lance saved us from certain death. Vincent Nigel-Murray also helped us a lot, because they weren’t taking sides unlike members of your team.”

”Our team,” Alec corrected gently, “Magnus, our team didn’t mean to do wrong - they thought that Lance was guilty.”

Magnus looked up to Alec, “he isn’t though, Alec.”

“I know,” Alec smiled slightly, “hey,” he moved closer to Magnus and placed an arm around his waist, “I’m glad we’ve still got each other, Magnus.”

Magnus smiled back to Alec, “yeah, now we just have to get my silly friend out of jail.”

“And his girlfriend,” Alec grumbled under his breath, “luckily this time, Simon will stop at nothing to right the wrongs.”

“We need to catch Camille Belcourt,” Magnus whispered, “we really do.”

The pair were caught off guard when Agent Seeley Booth and Luke Garroway ran into the room, “the girl with the blue gloves visited Sweets!”

“What?” Alec stared at the men.

”She recognised him,” Booth spoke quickly, “which means she’ll tell Camille immediately. Sweets and Rebecca are both now in danger, which means we can get them out of the prison straight away. But-”

”But we’ll have to keep them in hiding,” Luke continued.

“I suggest we take them to Washington,” Booth looked between the pair, “it would probably be best.”

Magnus was saddened by the idea of his friend moving away again, but it was better than dead. He nodded, “as long as Lance is okay with it.”

”He’d be better off there.”

“I know,” Magnus tried to smile, “I don’t know how Simon would feel about Rebecca.”

”She’s a grown woman,” Booth whispered, “Simon has to let his big sister go, it’s what’s safest for her.”

“Bring them here,” Alec shrugged, “we’ll have… We’ll have a goodbye, it would be nice for us all to make amends, I know that our team here have had mixed opinions.”

* * * * *

Lance and Rebecca were transported to the Institute within an hour, the plan for them to move to Washington hadn’t been fully explained to them, all they knew was that they weren’t entirely safe anymore. Rebecca reached for Lance’s hand as they walked up the steps, she offered him a smile when she noticed his wound had been bandaged up. 

“Whatever happens,” she began quietly, “I don’t regret a single second with you.”

“Not even the one second where I didn’t listen to a cops instructions of get on the floor?”

”Not even that,” Rebecca laughed, she shrugged, “my man has a bullet wound.”

Lance laughed slightly as they walked into the building - he was stunned when they were led into the lab, the platform had been decorated with ‘goodbye’ signs, it was touching.

“Lance, Rebecca,” Booth stepped out in front of them, “it’s been a tough decision to make, but to protect you both we feel it is best you both stay in Washington. I’ll be protecting you two.”

Rebecca raised an eyebrow and looked at Simon, “and my little brother is okay with this?”

”It’s your safety, Becky,” Simon smiled, “a lot has happened, but there are two psycho women out there who will want you both dead for wronging them.”

Lance shifted uncomfortably, his attention went to Magnus and Alec, Alec was holding a gift oddly enough. Lance let out a laugh, “this definitely didn’t call for you to buy presents.”

”We didn’t buy it,” Magnus admitted, “but it’s something you should definitely have.”

Alec held out the wrapped gift to Lance, he was unsure of what it was until he ripped back a section of the gift wrap, “oh,” he smiled brightly and pulled the rest off the wrap off, “my elephant!”

”I knew how special it was to you,” Magnus placed his hand on Alec’s back as he spoke to Lance, “I’m going to miss you, I know we didn’t get to spend much time together but I’d much prefer for you to be safe.”

“I’ll miss you too,” Lance replied quietly, trying not to tear up at the thought of leaving his friend again so soon, “thank you so much Magnus.”

”Oh save the tears boys,” Angela loudly commented as she clapped her hands together, “we’re having a celebration before you go,” she approached Rebecca, “please drink for me.”

Rebecca shrugged, “alright.”

The Brooklyn team all apologised to Lance but he insisted that he was the one who had to be sorry. He knew he hadn’t been cautious enough with his way of going around things, and perhaps going undercover was not the best idea he had ever had, especially going undercover as a criminal.

One thing was for sure, it felt like a happy ending. Vincent was stood with Wendell throughout the night, laughing at what the older man had to say. Nothing had become of the pair, but it was clear there was still a spark between them.

“I say we go back to Washington with them,” Daisy spoke to the pair, “things can go… Somewhat back to normal.”

“The Brooklyn team won’t get annoyed with us anymore,” Wendell laughed.

”I think I’ll miss them,” Vincent shrugged, “I was getting on with them.”

”It’s because you’re cute and British,” Daisy laughed as she placed a hand on his cheek, “how do you think Angela will react to you two hooking up?”

”You two did what now?” Angela appeared by the trio, leaving Daisy, Vincent, and Wendell in shocked silence with wide eyes, “good one boys,” she placed a hand on Wendell’s back, “I didn’t see that one coming.”

“Thank you very much,” Vincent smiled pleasantly to Angela.

“It’s so nice to see you three again,” Angela cooed to them, “I’ve missed you, even Brennan’s missed you.”

“Nice to know we’ve been thought about,” Vincent laughed playfully, “we’ll be coming back with you lot, I miss Washington.”

The day continued, no calls for investigation, no murders reported, just the group having fun as they said goodbye to the Washington residents. Rebecca and Simon had a long heart to heart, Simon felt as though he would never see Rebecca again, even though he probably would. 

It was a few hours later when Booth tapped Sweets on the back, “we should get going.”

”Right,” Lance looked back to Magnus and Alec and flashed them a smile, “thank you… For everything.”

“Thank you too,” Magnus grinned, “if it weren’t for you, Alec and I would be dead.”

“I’ll contact you,” Lance insisted, “through Facebook most likely.”

“And I’ll make sure to visit you, we’ll capture Camille and her assistant as soon as we can.”

* * * * * 

Goodbyes aren’t the easiest things, but they had been done and dealt with. There was now an odd empty atmosphere around the lab, without the three Washington interns, the constant smiles of joy had gone. They knew they’d be able to cope eventually.

Weeks passed since the Washington group had left and things seemed normal again, Alec and Magnus had finally managed to start a relationship and after two months had even decided to move in together - if it didn’t work out romantically they’d stay together as friends. But they realised that in the end, they depended on each other more than anything else.

They had heard only good news from the Washington group, everything seemed well.

Alec arrived home to Magnus one day to see his boyfriend leaning up against a doorframe, phone in hand looking absolutely distraught.

“Magnus? Are you alright?”

”It uh-” Magnus cleared his throat and took a deep breath, “Lance called,” he licked his lips as he struggled to speak.

”Something happened?”

Magnus nodded slowly and closed his eyes, “Vincent,” he mumbled, “Vincent was killed. It was a sniper that was trying to kill Booth… He-”

Alec moved to Magnus quickly and took him in an embrace, “he was so young.”

”I know I didn’t know him that well but… It still hurts to know.”

“It will,” Alec gently led Magnus over to the sofa, he sat down and then pulled the agent onto his lap, “Vincent was… He was an amazing kid.”

”They’re sending his body back to England, to his mother… It must be so hard for her, her son was already so far away and then to find out he…”

Alec pressed his forehead against Magnus’s, “we should tell everyone at the lab, perhaps have a celebration for Vincent.”

“I suppose that would be nice,” Magnus managed to smile.

Alec closed his eyes briefly, “I remember being locked up with him and Sweets… They were both really good company. I… It doesn’t seem real, now that you’ve said Vincent’s gone.”

”He didn’t deserve to die, Booth is working on finding Broadsky, the sniper that killed Vincent. Lance said Booth is definitely affected by it, as his Hodgins…”

”This place of work, it’s a hard one. We deal with death every day. When it’s close to us… It’s hard.”

Magnus nodded and closed his eyes as he leaned close to Alec, “it really is.”

* * * * *

The news of Vincent’s death shocked both the workers at the Jeffersonian and the Brooklyn Institute, a stunned silence taking place over both buildings. Vincent Nigel-Murray was a good man and it was true he didn’t deserve to die. 

“A drink to Vincent Nigel-Murray,” Simon offered up his glass to his co-workers, “I mean he may have annoyed us to begin with, but we all fell in love with his accent - right?”

”Of course,” Clary let out a small laugh, “he’ll be missed by so many.”

Magnus and Alec were stood together, Magnus smiled as the kind words were shared, “I feel like I shouldn’t be this upset-”

”Nonsense,” Jace hit Magnus’s shoulder, “you’re allowed to be upset, we all are,” he gave a soft sad smile, “Vincent was a very kind soul, it’s sad he’s gone so soon.”

”In this sad moment,” Luke began as he approached the team, “I can bring you some great news,” he smiled, “we caught Camille and her accomplice, Lily Chen.”

”Really?” Magnus’s hopes lifted as he looked at Luke.

“Yes, they’re both now in jail,” he clapped his hands together, “so even though there are many sorrows in the world, there are highlights.”

"How did you find them?”

”Well,” Luke began slowly, “Ollie and I were driving about one night and I had this urge to go visit that container you were kept in,” he pointed to Alec, “lucky us, they were in there.”

”Vincent’s spirit totally led you there,” Isabelle chuckled to Luke.

”Don’t be stupid,” Alec glared at his sister, “ghosts and spirits… They don’t lead people, in fact it was a place that made sense - something we could link to them an-”

”Just let Vincent’s ghost take the credit for this, honey,” Magnus rubbed Alec’s shoulder and grinned.

”Alright, alright, fine.”

Soon after the news of Vincent’s death, the team were working as normal, every now and then they’d remember Vincent helping them. Working on new cases definitely helped to hide their grief, nothing bad had happened since Vincent. The group had even been informed that Angela and Hodgins had given their newly born son the middle name ‘Vincent’ in honour of their fallen team member. 

They had been through hard times through the past months but it after the mistakes they had made by missing some evidence, they worked harder to find the culprits of each crime. The goodbyes had been hard, but the time had passed and gone now. When Rebecca and Lance were informed about Camille’s capture, Rebecca decided to stay in Washington with Sweets.

The team could work on new cases, and they needn’t worry about Camille, there may have been other dangers out there but for now they could rest at ease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how I feel about the ending but it was the best I could do. I hope you've all enjoyed Bane and Bones, remember I still have plenty of other fics that you can read!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm contemplatig bringing in a character or two from Bones at some point, mostly because I love Lance Sweets too much and I'm still in denial about what happened to him. Let me know how you'd feel about seeing some characters pop up and if there's anyone specific you'd like to see mentioned or involved - I might be able to get it done ;)
> 
> Thank you so much for the comments and support!!


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